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MISSION DISPATCH 8 December 11, 2008 | John Reed - Principal Investigator AND THAT'S A WRAP! This summary dispatch is provided by John Reed, Principal Investigator, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University. 
Our mission was to use the two new Waitt Institute for Discovery REMUS 6000 AUV vehicles for their first scientific expedition to map deep-sea coral reefs off the central east coast of Florida and at the same time to provide test trials of these AUVs and all their systems under very difficult environmental conditions. These trial dives were conducted approximately 50 miles offshore in the axis of the Gulf Stream with currents exceeding 3 knots, at depths over 1,500 feet, and over high-relief pinnacles which are steep, rugged reefs up to 200 feet tall. 
The primary objective of the mission was to provide high definition
side-scan sonar surveys that are critically needed in this region for the
following reasons: 1) to provide detailed data on the distribution of
these deep water reefs in order to protect them from potential impacts of
bottom trawls and fossil fuel exploration and development; and 2) to
provide the best scientific data available in order to show where bottom
trawling and fossil fuel production may be acceptable by avoiding coral
habitat.
This year the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has proposed a 23,000 nm2 region from North Carolina to South Florida as a habitat area of particular concern (HAPC) for deepwater coral reefs. Maps compiled during this mission will provide critical information on potential reef areas within this proposed HAPC. I had targeted six sites for these surveys. Four sites were near or within the proposed Lophelia coral HAPC and the two sites were within the Oculina coral HAPC. 
Our final dive was at Jeff's Reef near the southern end of the Oculina HAPC just off Fort Pierce. This particular reef was the first we discovered in 1975 and is named after our submersible pilot Jeff Prentice who was piloting the sub at the time. Most of my research has been on this reef where I conducted experiments using lockout diving with helium-oxygen gas mix from the Johnson Sea-Link submersibles. Over the past 30 years of work out here we never had a good map of the bottom. Hopefully this last dive will provide this map but we are down to the wire for dive time. It is already 11 am and we have to depart by 2:30 pm in order to get back to Fort Pierce and make the high tide to head up the Indian River Lagoon to Harbor Branch. 
Our seven-day mission resulted in some spectacular data about these relatively
unknown deepwater reefs. It was exciting to see first-hand these two new
AUV vehicles working under some very difficult conditions. At times we had
30 knot winds, 8 foot seas, and 2 knot bottom currents and still the AUVs
were able to follow the planned tracks flawlessly over these rugged reefs.
Certainly the combined efforts the Waitt Institute of Discovery, the AUV
crew from Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, the Waitt sonar team, and our ship and crew
from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute made this expedition a success.
The Banbury Fund and the Robertson Coral Reef Research and Conservation
Program at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute enabled my participation
on the cruise.
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