HR: 16:18h
AN: V44A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory's 25th Anniversary Expedition to the South Pacific
AU: * Smith, J R
EM: jrsmith@hawaii.edu
AF: Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, MSB 303, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Wiltshire, J C
EM: johnw@soest.hawaii.edu
AF: Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, MSB 303, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Malahoff, A
EM: malahoff@hawaii.edu
AF: Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, MSB 303, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Malahoff, A
EM: malahoff@hawaii.edu
AF: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, PO Box 30-368, 69 Gracefield Road, Lower Hutt, 6009 New Zealand
AB: The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) was established by NOAA at the University of Hawaii 25 years ago as part of its National Undersea Research Program. HURL's mission is to study deep water marine processes in the Pacific Ocean through a competitive proposal and review process. The dual Pisces IV and Pisces V 2000-meter manned submersibles, an RCV-150 1000-meter ROV, and multibeam equipped support ship R/V Ka'imikai-o-Kanaloa ( KoK) were largely acquired from the petroleum industry then adapted and upgraded to carry out cutting edge scientific expeditions. These studies range from active submarine volcanoes, delicate precious coral gardens, endangered marine mammal and fisheries management, to engineering surveys and deployment of observatory systems. HURL successfully completed a major 5-month expedition to the South Pacific during March-August 2005, working in the waters of New Zealand, Tonga, American Samoa, and the U.S. Line Islands covering a distance of nearly 14,500 nautical miles. This mission was significant in both the scientific merit and scope of operations, consisting of 8 different cruise legs at 21 study sites, with 12 chief and co-chief scientists, 58 total science team participants, and completing 61 out of 56 scheduled Pisces science dives, 17 ROV dives, 5 multibeam survey areas, 6 CTD rosette deployments, and 7 instrument mooring recoveries. The $3.5 million expedition was funded by an international partnership with New Zealand agencies (GNS & NIWA) and the University of Kiel in Germany along with the NOAA Office of Exploration and National Undersea Research Program. While most of the individual cruise legs focused on active submarine volcanoes of the Tonga-Kermadec Islands Arc and the Samoan hot spot chain with their hydrothermal systems and associated biological communities, others concentrated on marine protected areas including those of American Samoa and the remote atolls of the Line Islands of the Central Pacific. These studies included biological habitat mapping, climate change from dating of precious coral growth rings, ecological inventory assessments, and the marine archeology and impact from a grounded vessel. An overview of the latter portion of the voyage will be presented, along with the general capabilities of the HURL systems, and how they may be utilized by others employing the international collaborative model for extended missions to remote locations in the pursuit of deep submergence science.
UR: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 3017 Hydrothermal systems (0450, 1034, 3616, 4832, 8135, 8424)
DE: 3075 Submarine tectonics and volcanism
DE: 3080 Submergence instruments: ROV, AUV, submersibles
DE: 9355 Pacific Ocean
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005