Pictures: Giant Undersea Volcano Revealed

Volcano Stands Alone

Image courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Mapped by sonar for the first time in June, the undersea volcano Kawio Barat rises sharply from the seafloor off Indonesia.

"At over 3,500 meters [11,500 feet], Kawio Barat is taller than just three or four of the land mountains in Indonesia," Holden, of the University of Massachusetts, said.

"This is all the more impressive when you consider that Kawio Barat stands alone and rises up from an abyssal plain that is over 5,400 meters [17,700 feet] deep in places."

Documenting the volcano was made possible in part by the array of high-tech equipment—including sonar and a dedicated remotely operated vehicle—aboard the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's new Okeanos Explorer research ship.

(Related: "Deep-Sea Volcano Erupts on Film—A First.")

Published July 15, 2010

Maiden Voyage

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Silhouetted at sunset, a terrestrial mountain near the town of Bitung looms over the Okeanos Explorer as the expedition team prepares to leave port on June 23—the vessel's maiden voyage.

The Indonesia-USA Deep-Sea Exploration of the Sangihe Talaud Region (INDEX-SATAL 2010) was the first expedition of a multiyear U.S.-Indonesia partnership to identify deep-sea Indonesian resources that warrant further study and protection, Holden said.

In the years ahead, teams will collect biological, chemical, and geological samples that may have use in fields ranging from biofuels to pharmaceuticals.

(Related: "Giant Undersea Volcano Found Off Iceland.")

Published July 15, 2010

Evidence of Eruptions?

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

A hydrothermal vent's plume fills the frame as the Little Hercules remotely operated vehicle (ROV) descends the Kawio Barat volcano on June 30.

The hydrothermal activity, Holden said, indicates magma at the center of the volcano, which must erupt "fairly frequently—in geologic terms."

"There is fairly fresh-looking volcaniclastic sediment covering the top of Kawio Barat, and the steep, smooth slopes of the volcano suggest that it has experienced recent eruptions," he said.

(Related: "Deepest Volcanic Sea Vents Found; 'Like Another World.'")

Published July 15, 2010

Ballard's Bot

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Little Hercules—the only dedicated ROV on any NOAA vessel—nears a hydrothermal vent site on the Kawio Barat underwater volcano on June 30.

The ROV was brought out of retirement after an illustrious career with famed oceanographer Robert Ballard's Institute for Exploration. It was upgraded with new motors and a host of imaging, sensor, and communications equipment.

"Little Herc is back. Diving deeper, shining brighter and taking higher resolution imagery than ever before," Dave Lovalvo, ROV operations coordinator, wrote on the expedition blog.

(Related: "Spectacular Sea Eruption Filmed—Deepest Ever.")

Published July 15, 2010

Mission Command

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Crew members gather in the Okeanos Explorer's control room while ROV operations are underway on July 7.

In a deep-sea expedition first, several members of the science team, including Holden, participated remotely via "expedition command centers." Stationed in these high-tech rooms, scientists in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Seattle, Washington, were linked to the ship via satellite, vast video screens, and high-speed Internet. (See pictures of one such facility.)

"Telepresence represents a new paradigm for ocean research, similar to a NASA control room," said Holden, who is stationed in Jakarta. "As a seagoing oceanographer, it takes some getting used to."

Published July 15, 2010

Fresh, Hot Crab

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

A white crab scurries across a hot vent on the Kawio Barat undersea volcano on June 30.

The crab's species is impossible to identify from the ROV's images, expedition scientists said. But, they added, the crustacean very likely belongs to the only group of crabs known to visit vent sites, the Bythograeidae.

(Related: "Huge Asphalt Volcanoes Discovered off California.")

Published July 15, 2010

Finger Lickin' Good

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Barnacle-crusted sulfur chimneys (pictured) struck expedition member Verena Tunnicliffe, of the University of Victoria in Canada, as "particularly intriguing."

"We watched as their tentacles [or 'cirri'] extended like blooming flowers, then folded back into the shell," the marine biologist wrote in an expedition blog post June 30.

"We know from similar animals at other hot vents that the white fluff on the cirri are filaments of bacteria that grow in the passing vent water. The barnacles hold out the cirri to grow the bacteria then, apparently, withdraw to 'lick their fingers.'"

Published July 15, 2010

Squid New to Science?

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

During a third ROV dive at the giant seamount on July 1, the crew captured this picture of a deep-sea squid.

According to the University of Massachusetts's Holden, most of the animals encountered during the expedition are not uncommon at hydrothermal vents, although this squid could be new to science.

"We won't know whether these particular species are unique until we've had a chance to collect them," he said.

Published July 15, 2010

Ghostly Lobster

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

A white lobster appears to feast on fluffy, blue-white bacteria on the side of a vent chimney that's part of the Kawio Barat undersea volcano on June 30.

"We also saw small worms in tubes, large limpets and snails," the University of Victoria's Tunnicliffe wrote on the expedition blog. "It was a thriving community over a large area of diffuse venting."

Published July 15, 2010

Blooming Barnacles

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Goose-neck barnacles completely cover the sulfide chimneys of the Kawio Barat undersea volcano.

"The overall effect of thousands of blooming barnacles was quite stunning," the University of Victoria's Tunnicliffe wrote on the expedition blog June 30.

Published July 15, 2010

Down to the Volcano

Photograph courtesy INDEX/NOAA

Video and pictures captured by the ROV Little Hercules—seen descending toward the giant Kawio Barat undersea volcano on June 29—are sent in real time to the ship, to satellites, and to science team members at the on-shore exploration command centers.

"This represents a powerful new way to involve several dozen researchers, as well as the public and schools, in ocean research," Holden said.

"It won't replace—hopefully—scientists at sea but rather will complement it in situations that warrant input from several people."

Published July 15, 2010