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BOEMRE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM: ONGOING STUDIES |
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BOEMRE OCS Region:
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Planning Area: |
Gulfwide |
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Title: |
Gulf SERPENT: Establishing a Deepwater Plankton Observation System Using Industrial ROVs (GM-92-42-133) |
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Total Cost: $351,939 |
Period of Performance: FY 2008-2013 |
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Conducting Organization: |
Coastal Marine Institute, |
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BOEMRE Contact: |
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Description: Background: The pelagic waters seaward of the 200 m
isobath remain a poorly studied region of the oceans in general and the Deepwater drilling and production operations usually employ industrial ROV systems. These commercially-produced ROVs are sophisticated vehicles capable of operating to depths of over 1000 m while equipped with manipulator arms, cameras, lights and other sensors (e.g. temperature, pressure, current velocity). The number of industrial ROV systems in operation by the petroleum industry far eclipses the handful operated by the academic fleet. Moreover, these systems are located on semisubmersible rigs and drillships that remain in one location for months at a time. Unlike the oceanographic community, deepwater energy exploration provides the potential for extended access to poorly-studied regions of the ocean combined with appropriate ROV systems for deep sea exploration. Having appropriate ROV systems in place at locations of interest is of little scientific value if there is not time for them to conduct research. While the time budgets of industrial ROVs vary by site and stage of the drilling process, experience working with the operators of these systems suggests that on average, approximately 40 percent of the time, the ROVs are operational, but not otherwise tasked in support of drilling. The concept of using some of the operational standby time of industrial ROVs for scientific research was the genesis of the SERPENT project (Scientific Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing Industrial Technology) (http://www.serpentproject.com/) based at the National Oceanographic Institute in Southampton, UK. SERPENT works to bring scientists and industrial partners together to explore the oceans with ROVs and other industrial technology. There are SERPENT Project partnerships in operation at almost all the major deepwater exploration and production centers around the world. |
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Objectives: The primary objective of this project is to
establish a biological observatory network in the deepwater region of the
northern |
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Methods: The total number of sites that are contributing data at any one time will likely fluctuate but a total of 10-15 locations are anticipated by the end of the first year. Several sampling methodologies have been developed: Post-Riser Inspection Surveys - Surveys conducted when the ROV is available after work that has taken it to depth. An example of this would be after a riser inspection or inspection of the BOP. These surveys are designed to collect video of marine organisms between the bottom and surface. These surveys consist of a series of horizontal surveys at regular depths. Dedicated Surveys - These are deployments of the ROV specifically to collect video data on organisms in the water-column. Such surveys can be conducted whenever the system is available but not otherwise tasked, and the ROV operators have time. During daytime, the best approach is to begin at 1000 feet and conduct horizontal transects at 500’ intervals down to the bottom. At night they can begin at 100 feet and horizontal transects can be collected at 200’ intervals down to about 1500 feet. At each depth interval, these surveys are the same as for the ascent surveys. Opportunistic Surveys - Observation of marine life while conducting other work operations. For example: while conducting a riser inspection, you observe a jellyfish swimming near the riser. If time and operations permit, please record at least a minute of video of the organism including close-ups when practical. One easy way to accumulate these chance encounters is to label and keep a “Marine Life DVD” in the second burner and to record directly to the DVD whenever you encounter an animal during routine work operations. Information on the event can be annotated in the attached “Chance Encounter” video log. Opportunistic surveys have proved to be particularly fruitful in terms of discoveries of new organisms and range extensions of known taxa. Documentation of Colonization by Deepwater Corals - The general approach will be to conduct regular (monthly) observations of fixed structures associated with the platform, for which a datum of establishment can be determined. These structures will be surveyed with the ROV and any developing fouling organisms will be videotaped at close range. Such structures may include, but are not limited to, the subsea portions of the floating facility, anchor cables or tension legs, and bottom-mounted production equipment or the riser. Where feasible, settlement plates will be attached or suspended beneath selected facilities to document the recruitment of coralline species. All video observations will be screened and
separated into short clips, each containing a single species. These video data are archived to hard disks
and DVDs. Still images from video
clips are extracted. The date, time,
location, and depth of the observation along with any other metadata such as
water temperature are combined with a preliminary identification of the
organism on to a standard data sheet used by the SERPENT Project. Detailed identifications result when the
video clips are sent to individuals with particular taxonomic expertise on
certain groups of organisms. Once
organisms have been identified, representative video clips, stills and data
are sent to the Serpent Project site for archiving and public
dissemination. Once a sufficiently
large number of observations of individual taxa can be accumulated,
distributional patterns will be compiled based on depth, temperature, and
geographic location. Using such an
approach, this project will assemble a database of where and when planktonic
organisms occur over a large region of the deepwater exploration and
production zone in the |
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Products: Reports, imaging products, archived data sets, and peer-reviewed scientific publications. |
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Importance to BOEMRE:
The BOEMRE will obtain information
that will fill a large data gap for mid-water deep-sea animals in the
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Current Status: Awarded. Three years of observations completed. Identification posters in preparation. A Gulf SERPENT highlights video was produced in 2009. We mourn the lives lost in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The ROV of the Deepwater Horizon was one of the major contributors of imagery. The ROV crew was safely evacuated but their equipment, including the generously funded high resolution still camera are now all at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. A new 14 megapixel high resolution camera will soon be in operation on another ROV. In addition, other industry vehicles have largely been busy with other duties in the past year and are waiting to resume normal operations |
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Interim Report Due: |
September 2010 |
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Final Report Due: |
September 2013 |
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Publications: |
Benfield, M.C., J.H. Caruso, and K.J. Sulak.
2009. SERPENT Annual Report 2008 Benfield, M.C., B.A. Thompson, and J.H. Caruso. 2008. The second report of a sleeper shark (Somniosus (Somniosus) sp.) from the bathypelagic waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 82(2):195-198. Benfield, M.C. 2007. SERPENT: industry and academia team-up to explore marine life in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater region. Marine Technology Reporter, September 2007, 50:7, 28-37. Gates, A.R., Jones, D.O.B., Benfield, M., Kaariainen, J.I. (2008) SERPENT Cruise Reports 2007. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton Cruise Reports Series No. 30. 158pp. |
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Affiliated WWW Sites: |
BOEMRE website:
SERPENT
Spotlight
International website: http://www.serpentproject.com BBC video: Oar fish YouTube video: Oar fish BBC video: Mane fish |
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Revised date: |
May 2011 |
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ESPIS |
ESPIS
- All completed ESP Studies: |