Southern Hydrate Summit 1 Seafloor

The Southern Hydrate Summit 1 Seafloor study site, situated on the continental slope off the coast of Oregon at a water depth of ~775 meters, hosts abundant deposits of gas hydrates (methane ice) that are buried beneath, and sometime exposed at, the seafloor. The deposits vent methane-rich fluids and bubbles that escape through seeps on the ocean bottom and can rise in plumes several hundred meters above the seafloor, also fueling dense communities of microbes and animals with chemosynthetic symbiotes. These seeps provide a unique opportunity to study ocean chemistry, quantify chemical fluxes from the seafloor, and observe the impacts of methane release on overlying seawater and biota. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and, therefore, quantifying the flux of methane from the seafloor into the hydrosphere is critical to understanding carbon-cycle dynamics and the impacts of global warming on methane release, particularly following seismic events. This Low-Power junction box (LJ01B) contains geophysical and near-seafloor water column instrumentation, and is attached to an electro-optical cable that provides significant power and 1 Gb two-way communications bandwidth. This junction box is also co-located with a Medium-Power junction box that collects a complementary suite of seafloor and water column measurements.