Producer, David Cuoio and Research Scientist, Matthew Alford contributed to this report.
ON THE BOAT
The Kilo Moana is an impressive 225-foot, twin-hulled ship built for oceanographic research. This morning, Photographer, Tom Hadzor and the University of Washington scientists, expedition leader Matthew Alford and his associate, John Mickett, are hard at work. They are assembling the instruments they plan to send to the bottom of the Samoan Passage, where the ocean floor bottoms out at about 5,500 meters.
The research team’s first goal was to map out the western portion of the region. This is done by sending a fan of sound beams beneath the ship and listening for the reflection of that sound off the bottom. The travel time at each gives a “swath” of the seafloor depth that is mapped out as the research team steams along. The previous bathymetry (seafloor topography) measurements were a patchwork of satellite gravity and an early version of this new mapping system from 20 years ago. So far, a valley and a ridge in the old measurements disappeared – artifacts of the old data. These are very important as they govern the path the flow takes as it makes its way through the region.
Research Scientist Matthew Alford is also keeping a blog of the journey. You can check it out here.
Mapping the Sea Floor. Redder colors mean shallower; bluer means deeper. Courtesy University of Washington.
