Research ship finds first surprise (underwater volcano off coast of Washington State)

[TechBear_Seattle]

Research ship finds first surprise

The crew aboard a new research ship didn't expect to find an underwater volcano this fall off the coast of Washington.

Maps from previous missions showed only a bump on the seafloor about 200 miles west of Grays Harbor. But the contours of a large volcano emerged as sonar mapped the ocean floor more than 10,000 feet below the surface.

"It turns out we had this great volcano in the spot we were testing," said Jeremy Weirich, the ship's operations officer.

Okeanos Explorer, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship commissioned in August, just returned to Pier 66 in Seattle after its trial run off the Washington coast. Crew members said they were surprised at the mapping program's extraordinary detail.

Collecting ocean images is one part of the ship's mission. Despite ongoing research, NOAA scientists say close to 95 percent of the ocean remains unexplored. That means a world of underwater volcanoes, deep-dwelling organisms and shipwrecks hasn't been seen by humans.

The article continues at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008427810_explorership24m.html (It is more about the Okeanos Explorer than the volcano, though. Still, it is interesting.)

[RedLetterRev]

1. Now THAT's really cool stuff! n/t