Dive and Discover : Expedition 1 : Daily Updates


Guaymas Basin Expedition 1: Jan. 12–22, 2000 Mission & Objectives Daily Updates Mail Buoy Scientists & Crew Interviews Slideshows Videos Glossary	Videos for Expedition 1 A Pilot’s View Take a unique and spectacular look through the pilot’s viewport. Here you can see a large and thriving clump of Riftia tubeworms. The chemical sensor (the white wand held in Alvin's claw) is measuring the chemistry of the vent fluids. Alvin’s right arm is visible on the right side of the image.
	Chemical Sensor Pushed into Tubeworms Here’s a close-up of the chemical sensor being pushed into a clump of Riftia tubeworms. The sensor is disturbing the bacteria living around the tubeworms and in sediments. The bacteria rises up as white fluffy material.
	Hydrothermal Fluid FLows Out of a Sulfide Structure On Dive 3517, Anna-Louise, Don, and Pat found many beautiful sulfide structures, including this two to three meter tall one that looks like a beehive. Clear hydrothermal fluid with temperatures of up to 303°C (572°F) flow out of its spongy surface. Later in the dive, they discovered a very tall chimney, over 25 meters tall, that had many overhanging ledges. Because of the ledges, also called flanges, the structure looks like a Japanese pagoda, and that is why it is named “Pagoda Vent“.
	Alvin Takes a Core Sample A plastic tube, about 40 cm (16 inches) long, is pushed into the sediment by Alvin’s manipulator arm to collect a core of material for geochemical and micrbiological studies. Pilot BLee Williams took this video out the pilot’s viewport while operating the manipulator.
	Alvin Takes a Gas Sample at a Hydrothermal Vent Alvin’s manipulator arm holds a gas tight sampler with its snorkel stuck into a hydrothermal vent that is discharging fluid at 290°C (554°F).
	Alvin Encounters an Octopus As a cloud of sediment stirred up by Alvin settles, the large eye of a benthic octopus becomes visible. This octopus is sitting amongst a field of clams. This top predator will grab a clam and drill into the shell with its razor-sharp beak.
	Sampling a Beehive Alvin samples a beehive chimney from Rebecca’s Roost vent site using its manipulator.
	Alvin and a Crab A pink, spiny spider crab, similar to the two that have already been sampled, looks warily at Alvin’s manipulator as it takes a push core. This crab was not collected.
	Sampling Hydrothermal Fluid Sampling hot, 300°C hydrothermal fluid from Rebeccas Roost vent in the Guaymas Basin’s Southern Trough. The bottle is made from titanium so it is very strong and does not react with the hot corrosive fluids coming out of the vent. Chemists take the samples and analyze the fluid to determine its chemical composition.
	The “Planet” is Placed A view of the bacterial mats at Kristin’s Summit vent showing the marker left for future cruises and the placement of Josh Simpson’s “planet” in a blanket of bacterial mat surrounded by tubeworms.
	Lunar Eclipse A portion of the full lunar eclipse as viewed from RV Atlantis at about 26°N Latitude in the Gulf of California. The movie shows the the shadow of the Earth as it obscured the Moon. The whole eclipse lasted about 2 hours.
	[Back to top]