SEEPS ’09: Alvin, Atlantis, Methane, and More!

I want to share some long-overdue photos from a research trip taken in September by my lab at UCSB. I work for Dr. Dave Valentine, aiding in studies of methane-consuming microbes off the coast of Santa Barbara. Dave’s lab is primarily concerned with the biogeochemistry of marine hydrocarbon seeps.

Several times over the past few years, he’s taken his lab group on a ship for a half month-long research trip down the coast of California as part of the Study of the Ecology and Evolution of Petroleum Seeps (SEEPS) project.

The three-person submersible Alvin (of Titanic fame) was used to explore and collect samples from the sea floor, and this year we used an autonomous sub called Sentry to map and image the bottom of the ocean.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Our ship, R/V Atlantis, was huge! (This is only the middle portion.) Here, Atlantis is docked in San Francisco, one day before our departure. We headed down to Southern California, spending most of our time near Santa Barbara and LA.

We left San Francisco Bay under the care of a pilot who was soon retrieved by the red and white boat in the background.

Alvin and Sentry

Between dives, Alvin is kept in a sort of cave on the back of Atlantis.

Lowering Alvin into the water for a dive is a long and spectacular process.

It travels down this track and is lifted up by a giant rope.

After being decorated, a full-size foam head was sent down with Alvin in a mesh bag. The water pressure at the great depths of the seafloor shrank and distorted the head. Styrofoam cups and waterproof Sharpies were hot commodities on the ship!

I got to go on an Alvin dive! It was incredible. Deeper than sunlight could penetrate, we cruised along the featureless seafloor before arriving at some underwater hills teeming with life. We were trailed by inking squid for much of our trip. Toward the end, I got pretty sleepy due to the lower oxygen levels in the sub. (Oxygen levels are purposely kept low to minimize the risk of fire.)

Sentry being lowered into the water for some seafloor exploration.

One cloudy day, we found our ship surrounded by probably over 50 whales, surfacing to breathe.

The sunsets were beautiful. On this particular day, dolphins were swimming beside the ship as the sun set.

It was a great opportunity to have participated in this trip, thanks to the scientists, the Alvin crew, the Sentry crew, the SSSGs (who helped with the on-board equipment), the crew of the Atlantis, and Dave.