E/V Nautilus: Seafloor Exploration and Mapping in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa
Abstract
During a July/August 2019 expedition aboard E/V Nautilus, in cooperation with NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, previously unexplored and unmapped areas of American Samoa with a focus on National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS) were studied using a hull-mounted 30 kHz multibeam echosounder, autonomous surface vessel (ASV) 300 kHz multibeam echosounder, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and an ROV-mounted photomosaic camera system. The focus of the research was to record and characterize biological habitats and seafloor geology within NMSAS, as well as other unexplored areas in the region, specifically in the deep sea and mesophotic zones. Data and samples collected contribute to national repositories and general expansion of U.S. EEZ multibeam bathymetry coverage. Areas of interest included seafloor surrounding all five islands (Tutuila, Aunu’u, Ta’u, Ofu, and Olosega), Swains Island, Northeast Bank (Tupito seamount), and Muliava (Rose Atoll and Vailulu’u seamount). The efforts of this expedition built on previous work performed by NOAA Okeanos Explorer and Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center.
Publication Date
12-13-2019
Journal Title
2019 Fall Meeting, American Geophysical Union (AGU), San Francisco, CA, December 9-13
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Recommended Citation
R. Kane, Gee, L., Roman, C., Schmidt, V., Sudek, M., Spathias, H., Coward, G., and Raineault, N. A., “E/V Nautilus: Seafloor Exploration and Mapping in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa”, 2019 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. American Geophysical Union , San Francisco, CA, 2019.