New England and Canada ROV and Mapping

Vessel: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer; Expedition Dates: August 26, 2019 to September 15, 2019

Ports: Halifax, Nova Scotia to North Kingstown, RI

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

Using OER's dual-body ROV, the expedition completed 12 successful dives ranging in depth from 306 to 2,668 meters that explored a wide diversity of habitats and geological features, including deep-sea coral and sponge communities, deep-sea fish habitats, midwater habitats, submarine canyons, seamounts, and more. Midwater explorations at depths ranging from 700 to 2,175 meters were conducted during one ROV dive in order to investigate the diversity and abundance of the largely unknown pelagic fauna of the region. Overall, hundreds of different species were observed during ROV dive operations, including several potentially undescribed species and several range extensions. Throughout the expedition, 124 biological samples were collected (35 primary and 89 associated taxa), 26 of which likely represent either range expansions or potential new species. The remainder of the biological samples were collected to support studies on connectivity and biogeographic patterns across the Atlantic Ocean. Six high-density communities of deep-sea corals and sponges were documented during the expedition, including a high-density forest of bamboo corals at depths of 1,100 meters inside Gully Canyon, and a highly diverse and dense assemblage of deep-sea sponges and corals at depths of 2,500-2,650 meters on Retriever Seamount, which is among the deepest known such communities in the region. Additional patches of high-density communities of deep-sea corals and sponges were documented during dives on an unnamed canyon, Kinlan Canyon, Bear Seamount, and Veatch Canyon. Other noteworthy ROV observations included records of three large (> 1 meter) individuals of the endangered Atlantic Halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus.Additionally, ROV dives documented various unique geological features, including inactive fluid expulsion features inside Verrill Canyon, evidence of recent sediment transport within Oceanographer Canyon, and a continuous sequence of carbonate rock (>100 meters thick) with near vertical relief at Veatch Canyon. Five geological samples were collected to support laboratory analyses that will increase our understanding of the geological context of this region.

Gully Canyon

Area

Gully Canyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	August 29, 2019
Max Depth:	1348 Meters
Bottom Time:	3 Hours 58 Minutes 56 Seconds

Purpose

This dive was located within the Gully Marine Protected Area (MPA), which protects the largest submarine canyon in the Western North Atlantic. This productive environment is host to a number of protected fish and marine mammal species, and assessment of biodiversity is critical for effective MPA management. The dive was meant to explore the eastern wall of the Gully Canyon, which has never been surveyed with deep-sea submersibles. Additionally, this dive sought to document and collect several species of sponges and corals which are thought to be new to science. Furthermore, this dive sought to explore the recent geological activity of the canyon in the form of seabed ripples, fresh debris fields, and axial canyon incision.

Verrill Steps

Area

Verrill Steps; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	August 30, 2019
Max Depth:	2506 Meters
Bottom Time:	3 Hours 13 Minutes 22 Seconds

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to explore deeper depths (~2500 m) inside Verrill Canyon, which have not previously been surveyed. Specifically, this dive sought to explore step-like features of Verrill Canyon, thought to have been formed by turbidity currents; the steep relief between steps was expected to prpvode suitable habitat for deep-sea corals and sponges. The dive further sought to explore the geological setting of the steps, as well as survey and sample biological communities along them.

Vazella Sponge Grounds

Area

Vazella Sponge Grounds; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	August 31, 2019
Max Depth:	360 Meters
Bottom Time:	5 Hours 54 Minutes 5 Seconds

Purpose

This location on the Scotian Shelf was predicted to have high habitat suitability for Vazella sponges by models. This dive sought to test those habitat suitability models and add data (presence or absence) for future model iterations.

Northeast Channel

Area

Northeast Channel; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 01, 2019
Max Depth:	1496 Meters
Bottom Time:	5 Hours 51 Minutes 54 Seconds

Purpose

The Northeast Channel dive site was located immediately proximal to the Northeast Channel Coral Conservation Area, designed to protect deepwater coral and sponge communities from bottom contact fishing. The purpose of the dive was to characterize the deep-sea benthic community inside this current area of interest, which is under consideration for expansion of the protected area. Furthermore, the dive sought to investigate the geological origins of this site, presumed to be composed of glacial trough mouth fan materials.

Unnamed Canyon

Area

Unnamed Canyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 02, 2019
Max Depth:	758 Meters
Bottom Time:	6 Hours 35 Minutes 17 Seconds

Purpose

This unnamed canyon, as well as many nearby shelf-sourced minor canyons in this region have mostly been unexplored. Kinlan Canyon, located south of this unnamed canyon, is known to be suitable habitat for Lophelia pertusa coral communities. The planned dive track was designed to cross the canyon axis and thereby sought to assess the geologically recent sediment transport history of the canyon, as well as investigate the benthic communities of the area.

Kinlan Canyon

Area

Kinlan Canyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 03, 2019
Max Depth:	1076 Meters
Bottom Time:	4 Hours 27 Minutes 8 Seconds

Purpose

Two previous dives have been conducted in Kinlan Canyon, including a ROV Deep Discoverer dive in 2013 and a ROV ROPOS dive in 2017. Both of those dives documented communities of the reef-building coral Lophelia pertusa. The purpose of this dive was to assess the intra-canyon extent of Lophelia pertusa and other coral and sponge communities. This was also a tribute dive dedicated to the memory of Dr. Brian Kinlan, a former NOAA scientist who pioneered the use of predictive habitat suitability modeling for scientific exploration and conservation, after who this canyon was named.

Oceanographer Canyon

Area

Oceanographer Canyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 04, 2019
Max Depth:	600 Meters
Bottom Time:	1 Hours 54 Minutes 6 Seconds

Purpose

This site was located within the canyons unit of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Previous dives within Oceanographer Canyon documented dense deep-sea coral communities, and the dive location was predicted to be highly suitable for coral habitat. This dive also sought to expand knowledge on coral distribution within the canyon.

Bear Seamount eastern slope

Area

Bear Seamount eastern slope; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 09, 2019
Max Depth:	2139 Meters
Bottom Time:	5 Hours 18 Minutes 19 Seconds

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to explore a previously unsurveyed area on the southeast corner of Bear Seamount for deep-sea corals and sponges. Additionally, this dive sought to Investigate whether there is surficial evidence for apparent normal faulting cutting across the width of Bear Seamount.

Retriever Seamount

Area

Retriever Seamount; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 10, 2019
Max Depth:	2671 Meters
Bottom Time:	4 Hours 38 Minutes 16 Seconds

Purpose

Previous dives on Retriever Seamount targeted depths >3,800 m and <2,400 m. This dive sought to explore the depth range between those two previous dives in order to add valuable new information on the diversity of habitats across various depth ranges of Retriever Seamount. Additionally, this dive explored the southeast corner of Retriever Seamount, an area of the seamount which has also not been explored. The site was expected to be highly suitable habitat for deep-sea corals and sponges as a result of the steepness of its slopes slopes identified via seafloor mapping.

Bear Seamount Midwater

Area

Bear Seamount Midwater; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 11, 2019
Max Depth:	2181 Meters
Bottom Time:	0 Hours 51 Minutes 49 Seconds

Purpose

This dive site was located just north of Bear Seamount, within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. There have been extensive nekton trawling surveys in the vicinity of this site, as well as several ROV dives that explored benthic habitats on Bear Seamount. However, to date there have been no midwater ROV dives on the seamount. This dive therefore sought to collect valuable midwater video data that can be compared to historic midwater trawl data.

Veatch Canyon

Area

Veatch Canyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 12, 2019
Max Depth:	1342 Meters
Bottom Time:	5 Hours 46 Minutes 55 Seconds

Purpose

The purpose of this dive was to explore the eastern wall of Veatch Canyon in a region that has not yet been surveyed by deep-sea submersibles. Habitat suitability models predicted that this area contained suitable habitat for deep-sea corals.

Block-Alvin Intercanyon

Area

Block-Alvin Intercanyon; U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Continental Margin

Overview

Date:	September 14, 2019
Max Depth:	1277 Meters
Bottom Time:	6 Hours 18 Minutes 55 Seconds

Purpose

The purpose of the dive was to explore a minor box canyon located between Block and Alvin Canyons. The dive track was designed to traverse across steep terrain that was predicted to provide suitable habitat for deep-sea corals and sponges. This site was also close to the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Pioneer Array. Thus, benthic data collected during the dive would be linkable to long-term oceanographic datasets collected at the Pioneer Array.