Exploration

Many ROV dives were conducted by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer between 2018 and 2022 in a region known as the Southeastern U.S. Continental Margin, with dive duration ranging from 4 to 7 hours. 

Below are several Dive Overview Movies produced by BEAMS Program students and faculty, condensing each dive’s highlights to less than 15 minutes.  The biota and seabed geology are documented with explanatory text throughout each movie, and information of water depth and time of the dive are included for reference.

Dive Overview Movies for select ROV dives on the Southeast U.S. Continental Margin:

EX1806 – Dive 04 (An area of rocky cliffs and terraces, where water depths range 800 to 1200 m, more than 250 km off the coast of South Carolina)   

EX1806 – Dive 05 (A cold-water coral mound located beneath the Gulf Stream at a depth of 700 m, 130 km east of St. Augustine, Florida.)    

EX1806 – Dive 06 (A cold-water coral mound located beneath the Gulf Stream at a depth of 700 m, 170 km east of Jacksonville, Florida.)    

EX1907 – Dive 06 (A cold-water coral mound located beneath the Gulf Stream at a depth of 700 m.)

An overview map showing the locations of all dives for EX1806, with a blue star denoting dive 04 at Blake Escarpment South (Made using GeoMapAPP)

One ROV dive (EX1806-Dive 04) was selected to demonstrate the value of a fully summarized and documented dive.  This dive is located at the edge of the Southeastern U.S. Continental Margin on an enormous feature called the Blake Escarpment where depths range 800 to 2500 m.

See the full suite of web resources generated by students and faculty related to this dive here.