Océano Profundo 2018: Exploring Deep-Sea Habitats off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Vessel: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer; Expedition Dates: October 30, 2018 to November 20, 2018

Ports: San Juan, PR to San Juan, PR

Project Principals: Daniel Wagner, NOAA/OAR/OER (Expedition Coordinator); Derek Sowers, NOAA/OAR/OER (Mapping Lead)

Operations will include the use of the ship's deep-water mapping systems (Kongsberg EM302 multibeam sonar, EK60 split-beam fisheries sonars, Knudsen 3260 chirp sub-bottom profiler sonar, and Teledyne Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler), XBTs in support of multibeam sonar mapping operations, CTD casts, OER's two-body ROV system (Deep Discoverer and Seirios), and the ship's high-bandwidth satellite connection for continuous ship-to-shore communications. Operations will focus on exploring deep waters (>250 m) in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Caribbean Sea, as well as in territorial waters surrounding surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

East of Vieques Island

Area

East of Vieques Island; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with an emphasis on identifying occurrences of deepwater fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track. The dive survey was designed to traverse a variety of slopes, ultimately ending on a local topographic high. The targeted depth range lied within the known depth range for commercially important snapper species in the area. The dive also targeted deep-sea coral and sponge communities.

East of Vieques Island 2

Area

East of Vieques Island 2; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with an emphasis on identifying occurrences of deepwater fish species, as well as their habitat preferences. The dive survey was designed to traverse a variety of slopes and ultimately ending on a local topographic high. The targeted depth range lied within the known depth range for commercially-important snapper and grouper species. The dive also sought to survey and characterize deep-sea coral and sponge communities.

Buck Island Reef National Monument

Area

Buck Island Reef National Monument; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with an emphasis on surveying and characterizing deep-sea coral and sponge communities. The dive also sought to document deepwater demersal fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track. The dive track was designed to start just outside the Monument boundary and traversed southward into the Monument up a steep slope.

St. Croix Amphitheater

Area

St. Croix Amphitheater; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with an emphasis on surveying and characterizing deep-sea corals, specifically Lophelia pertusa, as well as deepwater sponges and demersal fish species.

Virgin Islands Trough South Wall

Area

Virgin Islands Trough South Wall; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was to characterize the deep-sea coral and sponge communities in a relatively unexplored ridge feature west of St. Croix. The dive also sought to identify occurrences of deepwater demersal fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track. The dive track was designed to begin near the top of the south wall of the Virgin Islands Trough and then traversed southward up a steep nose feature in the wall from a depth of 1737 to 2138 m. Slopes expected along this dive track averaged between 30-40 degrees incline. This depth range was selected to better understand deepwater community transitions between steep topography and ridge crests.

Punta Yeguas

Area

Punta Yeguas; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with an emphasis on identifying occurrences of deepwater fish species, corals and sponges, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track. This dive took place in the Ines Maria Mendoza Nature Reserve, also known as Punta Yeguas. The dive track was designed to traverse a 200 m tall mound, starting at a steep slope towards the northeast.

Isla Caja de Muertos

Area

Isla Caja de Muertos; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to survey deep-sea coral and sponge communities, as well as deepwater demersal fish species along the dive track. The dive started on a steep slope (40 degrees), while traversing northeast along gentle slope area and then moved up a mound. This site was located to the south of the Caja de Muertos Island, south of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

La Parguera Ridges

Area

La Parguera Ridges; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was to characterize deep-sea coral and sponge communities in an unexplored ridge feature off La Parguera. The dive also sought to identify occurrences of deepwater demersal fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track. The dive track began near the bottom of a steep slope (average 30 degree incline) and continued eastward toward a more moderate ridge.

Jaguey Spur

Area

Jaguey Spur; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to characterize deep-sea coral and sponge communities in an unexplored ridge feature and slope off the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. The dive also sought to identify occurrences of deepwater demersal fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the seafloor. The dive track was designed to explore a steeply sloped ridge between depths of 2,786 to 2,502 m.

Mona Canyon West Wall

Area

Mona Canyon West Wall; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive was an extended (10 h) dive consisting of two parts. The first part explored the geology of a landslide scarp at Mona Canyon at 2,500-2,800 m depths, which is believed to have caused the major tsunami of 1918. This part of the dive sought to add additional observations on the geology of Mona Canyon to those made during previous dives in the canyon off the E/V Nautilus in 2013 and NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in 2015. The second part included a series of midwater transects at depths between 2,000 m and 300 m in order to explore the pelagic fauna of the area.

Vega Baja Landslide

Area

Vega Baja Landslide; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to explore a landslide scarp north of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. The site was originally proposed by partners at USGS due to its potential as a geohazard. The dive sought to make observations on the geology of exposed rocks and collect samples to determine the age of any recent geological activity in the area. Further, the dive sought to characterize the seafloor fauna of the area, focusing on deep-sea corals, sponges and demersal fishes.

Mona Canyon East Wall

Area

Mona Canyon East Wall; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was to characterize deep-sea coral and sponge communities in an unexplored steep ridge feature located on the eastern side of the Mona Canyon, off the northwestern shore of Puerto Rico. The dive also sought to identify the occurrences of deepwater demersal fish species, as well as their habitat preferences along the dive track.

Mona Island Escarpment

Area

Mona Island Escarpment; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive targeted potential habitats of commercially valuable deepwater fishes, including snappers and groupers. The depth profile and topography both fell in the habitat preferences of the commercially important deepwater fishes as reported by the local fishing community in the region. The dive also sought to characterize the habitats of deep-sea corals, sponges and other demersal fish communities.

North of Bajo de Sico

Area

North of Bajo de Sico; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive explored a submarine bank north of Bajo de Sico in the Mona Passage. The purpose of this dive was to make observations of potential habitats and occurences of deepwater fish species, including snappers and groupers. The depth profile and topography fell in the habitat preferences of commercially important fishes as reported by the local fishing community. This dive further sought to characterize the habitats of deep-sea corals, sponges, mobile invertebrates, and other demersal fish communities.

Pichincho Wall East

Area

Pichincho Wall East; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive targeted potential habitats of deep-sea fish species, including snappers and groupers. The depth profile and topography, fell in the habitat preferences of commercially important deepwater fishes as reported by the local fishing community. The dive also sought to characterize the habitats of deep-sea corals, sponges, mobile invertebrates and other demersal fish communities.

Pichincho Fish Tail

Area

Pichincho Fish Tail; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive targeted potential habitats of deepwater fish species, including snappers and groupers. The depth profile and topography, fell within the habitat preferences of commercially important deepwater fishes as reported by the local fishing community in the region. The dive also sought to characterize the habitats of deep-sea corals, sponges, mobile invertebrates and other demersal fish communities along the seafloor.

Mona South Ridge

Area

Mona South Ridge; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This was a two-part dive, with the first part targeting seafloor habitats at 1,000-1,200 m depths south of Mona Island, and the second part including midwater transects at 300-900 m depths. The purpose of the first portion of the dive was exploratory with objectives to characterize seafloor communities, both hard and soft bottom. Hardbottom faunal communities, including coral and sponges, were expected on steeper-sloped terrain and on top of the ridge feature.

Desecheo Ridge

Area

Desecheo Ridge; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

This dive targeted potential habitats of deep-sea fish, including snappers and groupers. The depth profile and topography fell in the habitat preferences of commercially important deep-sea fishes as reported by the local fishing community. The dive also sought to characterize the habitats of deep-sea corals, sponges, and other demersal fish communities. Further, the dive targeted a range of different slope types to evaluate the influence of topography on deep-sea fish and benthic communities.

Mona Seamount

Area

Mona Seamount; U.S. Caribbean Sea

Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was exploratory with objectives to characterize seafloor faunal communities, both on hard and soft bottom habitats. Hardbottom faunal communities, including deep-sea coral and sponges, were anticipated on steep sloped terrain. The dive also sought to to identify deep-sea fishes, as well as the geology of Mona Seamount.