Oceanographic data collected during the Gulf of Alaska 2004 Expedition (alaska2004) on RV Atlantis in Gulf of Alaska from 2004-07-30 to 2004-08-23 (NCEI Accession 0072310)

The 2004 Gulf of Alaska Seamount Expedition will use the deep submergence vehicle (DSV) Alvin to explore five large seamounts. Giacomini, Pratt, Welker, Denson, and Dickens seamounts stretch over a 400-nautical-mile section of the northeast Pacific, called the Kodiak-Bowie Seamount Chain. Operating from a base aboard R/V Atlantis, scientists will dive to depths of up to 3,500 m to conduct a series of biological and geological investigations on these ancient volcanoes.

All four of the Principal Investigators aboard this cruise were part of the Gulf of Alaska Seamount Expedition in 2002, as were other scientific researchers, many of the ship's crew, the sub's crew, and the cruise coordinator. The research foci of this mission include:

• Geologic dating and characterization of the seamounts
• Deep-sea coral distribution and genetics
• Community ecology of deep-sea corals
• Investigation of the microbial, invertebrate, and fish communities associated with the corals