In a best-case scenario, crew members will use echograms and a fluorometer, which measures light emissions, to identify anomalies and scoop water samples from as deep as 1,000 feet below the surface. But using these tools to seek dispersed oil in such a wide area is an uncertain endeavor, according to Larry A. Mayer, director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire. "We're not 100 percent sure this will work," said Mayer, who is part of the mission. "But we'll be working night and day to figure that out."

While Little Hercules spent just five days in Durham before heading to Hawaii, where it will explore the waters between there and Indonesia, NOAA plans to return to Chase in April to test an ROV almost eight times the size of this one. "They need a big enough tank to submerge the ROV in a controlled environment," says Andy McLeod, lab manager of the UNH facility, which houses several joint UNH and NOAA programs. McLeod adds that the ongoing testing will mean opportunities for UNH undergraduate students to get involved in research.

Students from Carmel Middle School in Carmel, Ind., welcomed home Christine Hedge, a seventh-grade science teacher who spent six weeks in the Arctic Ocean on board the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy as part of a multi-year, multi-agency effort to collect seafloor mapping and oceanographic data along the North American Extended Continental Shelf. "The discovery of this seamount is a prime example of how little we know about the Arctic Ocean," said retired NOAA Capt. Andy Armstrong, the mission's co-chief scientist and co-director of the NOAA-University of New Hampshire Joint Hydrographic Center. "Christine's keen observations allowed us to react in time to turn the ship and explore this important seafloor feature in closer detail."

James V. Gardner and Mashkoor Malik (of The Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping (CCOM) UNH and NOAA, respectively) participated on the cruise, and provided details of the discovery in the August 11, 2009 issue of EOS.

One of the highlights of the 2009 mission was the August 25 discovery of an underwater mountain, known as a seamount, by scientists aboard the Healy. ( An underwater geologic feature needs to extend at least 1,000 meters above the seafloor to quality as a seamount. ) The not-yet-named seamount is the first discovered in the Arctic since 2003.

Larry Mayer, director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping and co-director of the Joint Hydrographic Center, is the chief scientist for the U.S. mission. NOAA's Andy Armstrong, a physical scientist and co-director of the Joint Hydrographic Center, is the co-chief scientist. NOAA and the University of New Hampshire jointly operate the Joint Hydrographic Center. The 41-day joint mission runs from August 7 to September 16 and will see the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent operating together to obtain a variety of data.

A joint U.S.-Canada expedition sailing next month to the icy waters off the northern coastline both countries share will help map the farthest reaches of the North American continent, but it won't deal with a long-running dispute over a resource-rich part of the Beaufort Sea. "The primary thing this mission is designed to answer is 'Where is the edge of the continental shelf?' " said Maggie Hayes, director of the U.S. Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs.

More and More. Sonar mapping of the Arctic seafloor (colored lines) has pushed outward by almost 200 km the "foot of slope" that is a benchmark for the outer edge of potential U.S. mineral rights. CREDIT: IMAGE CREATED BY LARRY MAYER; DATA COLLECTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE CENTER FOR COASTAL AND OCEAN MAPPING/JOINT HYDROGRAPHIC CENTER; BASE MAP IS IBCAO COMPILATION (JAKOBSSON ET AL., 2008)

Changes in the Arctic environment—no matter the cause—are a great national security concern... Working in conjunction with NOAA's Office of the Coast Survey and the University of New Hampshire's Joint Hydrographic Center, the breaker's multi-beam sonar and sub-bottom profiler were used to better define the extent of the U.S. continental shelf.

The Canadian broadcasting team has produced an one-hour documentary following the greatly intensified push by Russia, the United States, Denmark, Canada and others to map and exert hegemony over Arctic waters. They provided us with a short distillation that includes nice interviews with Larry Mayer of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, who I’ve been interviewing periodically as he leads surveys of Arctic sea-bed formations that could extend United States economic control in the region.

After clicking on the link, scroll down the page to the blog 'Arctic Riches' to read about Larry Mayer and other CCOM scientists who have just returned from their latest mission to map the Arctic sea floor.