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CLEARLY SUPERIOR IMAGING The 11K before deployment, with Robert Staven and Fredrik Søreide. (Photo Credit: Promare) Results The dive in the Puerto Rico Trench resulted in the recovery of three hours of high-defnition video from the seafoor at 8,000 meters depth; an unseen and unexplored part of the Atlantic Ocean. The system also recorded depth and temperature profles from the dive. The video can be viewed at www. promare.org. As expected, the seabed seen in the video consists of soft sediments, and several organisms appeared over the time of the dive. In the beginning of the recording, there is no evidence of life, but the lights and bait soon attracted several animals. Most notably, the video shows swarms of amphipods and some bottom-crawling creatures. Two invertebrate creatures were observed in the video. One soft dark individual, estimated to be 10 to 20 centimeters long, has been identifed by Dr. Stace E. Beaulieu of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a sea cucumber, tentatively assigned to genus Peniagone, with one record in this genus previously published from the Puerto Rico Trench at a depth of 7,625 to 7,900 meters. The other individual, a smaller crustacean, is tentatively identifed as a munnopsid isopod, based on morphology and similar walking and jumping movements observed for other hadal munnopsid isopods. Because these individuals were not collected, it is not possible to obtain species-level identifcations. However, these sightings likely exceed the deepest known records for genus Peniagone and family Munnopsidae. Numerous amphipods were also captured in small sample nets and returned to the surface for further study. According to Dr. Alan J. Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen, there are multiple species within the swarm on the video. He is analyzing the collected amphipods to identify the dominant species. Although these results are not fnalized, it is highly likely that they will represent a new species. Conclusion The preliminary test proved that the 11K system can be used to explore the deepest parts of the oceans at low cost. Promare will now initiate a more comprehensive research program to explore the Puerto Rico Trench and other deep-sea locations in more detail. Specifcally, Promare intends to return to the trench in 2013 with the 11K system in ROV and AUV mode to explore it from biological, geological and archaeological perspectives. Acknowledgments This article was written together with Gregory M. Cook, Brett A. Phaneuf and Robert Staven from Promare and Martin Ludvigsen from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Thanks to Stace E. Beaulieu from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Alan J. Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen for the analysis of the video and samples. References For a list of references, contact Fredrik Søreide at fredrik@promare. org. n Fredrik Søreide is the vice president of Promare and is responsible for its new deepwater exploration initiative. He is also a professor of marine engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has been involved in numerous marine scientifc and exploration projects around the world. www.sea-technology.com The Leader in Underwater Technology Acoustic Releases | USBL | MRU Side Scan Sonar | Sub-bottom Profilers Bathymetry | AUV & ROV Sonars Combined & Customized Solutions Connect With Us At: For more information, visit EdgeTech.com info@edgetech.com USA 1.508.291.0057 DECEMBER 2012 / st 57