RAPID: OOI-Industry Partnership to Install a Cabled 45 kHz ADCP at Axial Seamount Caldera

The PI proposes to test a new acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) which has the potential, for the first time, to provide real-time monitoring of currents throughout the entire ~1500 m of water column that overlies Axial caldera. If successful, this instrument will be of broad use to the community with important applications spanning quantification of rising methane-and biologically-rich plumes at sites of gas hydrates, to monitoring changes in currents along continental margins impacted by ocean acidification and anoxia events.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.