An Academic-Industrial Partnership to Explore Life in the Deep Gulf of Mexico
Mark C. Benfield Louisiana State University Oceanography and Coastal Sciences What Is SERPENT? • Global partnership between the oil and gas industry and academia • ROVs and other instrumentation to conduct research • Operational stand-by time • Observations and experiments • Pure and applied research
2 SERPENT Projects
3 Rationale Doc Global Jason/Medea ROPOS Ricketts Hercules Explorer Ventana MaxROVER RCV-150
914 m 914 m
1850 m
3000 m
4000 m 4000 m
5000 m
6500 m Image Credits: Jason (WHOI), ROPOS (CSSF), Doc Ricketts & Ventana (MBARI), Hercules (NOAA), Global Explorer (Deep Sea Systems), MaxROVER (NURP), RCV-150 (NOAA). 4 Oil and Gas ROVs
Innovator Innovator Millennium/ Hercules Centurion Centurion Pioneer Pioneer 4K Magnum QX200 HD HD HD
1000 m 1500 m 1500 m
2000 m
3000 m 3000 m 3500 m 4000 m
Image Credits: Subsea7, Saipem-America, Oceaneering 5 Extended Presence in the Sea
Image Credit: New York Times/Transocean 6 GOM Exploration and Production Sites
7 Project Objectives • Deep-sea biological observation system • Mesopelagic and bathypelagic plankton and nekton – What organisms are present? – Where do they occur (lat, lon, depth)? – When do they occur? – What are they doing?
8 Scientific Discovery
9 Educational Opportunities
10 Educational Opportunities
11 What About Industry?
• Reinforce the ‘E’ in the HSE message
12 Industry Benefits: Corporate Image
• Demonstrate corporate commitment to the environment, to the public, and to shareholders
13 Value to Industry
• Better pilots for SERPENT = better pilots for drilling
14 Critical Pre-Impact/Post-Impact • What were conditions like prior to drilling? • Seafloor and water column conditions prior to an incident
15 SERPENT Surveys
• Post-riser inspection surveys • Dedicated surveys • Opportunistic observations
16 Operations
DATABASE ID, Date, Time, Depth, Lat, Lon, CLIENT Temperature, Other Metadata
17 Long-term Database
18 Long-Term Database
0 100 200 300
400 500 600 Depth (m) Depth 700 800 900 1000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
19 Opportunistic Observations
20 Data Mining
21 Scientific Discoveries: Somniosus Shark
22 Results: Manefish (Paracaristius sp.)
• Poorly studied, infrequently sampled mesopelagic fishes • Best video observations of this little-known species to date
University of Sao Paulo Museum
Image: NOAA
Benfield et al. 2009
23 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
• First records of Stygiomedusa gigantea from GOM • Four observations: Discoverer Deep Seas, GSF Explorer, Thunder Horse, Development Driller I
Benfield 2010 24 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
• First records of Stygiomedusa gigantea from GOM • Four observations: Discoverer Deep Seas, GSF Explorer, Thunder Horse, Development Driller I
Benfield 2010 25 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
Benfield and Graham 2010 26 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
Benfield and Graham 2010 27 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
Benfield and Graham 2010
28 Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea
Benfield and Graham 2010
29 Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish)
• Largest marine teleost
30 Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine teleost • Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic
31 Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish)
• Largest marine teleost • Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic • Healthy individuals rarely observed
Brian Skerry/National Geographic 32 Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish)
• Largest marine teleost • Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic • Healthy individuals rarely observed • Encounters with dead or dying animals near shore relatively frequent
33 Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine teleost • Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic • Healthy individuals rarely observed • Encounters with dead or dying animals near shore relatively frequent
Harpers Weekly 1860 34 Oarfish
35 Oarfish
36 37 38 Gulf SERPENT Sites 2009
39 New Technologies • HD video • Digital stills camera • Animal collection system • Navigation system
40 HD Video
41 Still Camera System
42 43 44 45 46 At this moment …
• LSU Technician just back from the DD3 revisiting surveys around MC252 • Site visit to Thunder Horse tomorrow
Stuart Cook aboard the DD3 03/07/11 47 Acknowledgments
• BOEMRE: James Sinclair, Greg Boland • BP: (Terry Rooney, Melissa Simpson, Virginia Park), Shell, Chevron, Oceaneering, Saipem- America, Subsea7 • Global Marine, MV Olympic Challenger ROV teams • Future Partners: Petrobras, Nexen, Pacific Drilling
48 References
Benfield, M.C., J.H. Caruso, and K.J. Sulak. 2009. In situ video observations of two manefishes (Perciformes: Caristiidae) in the mesopelagic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Copeia, 2009(4):637–641. Benfield, M.C. 2010. Stygiomedusa gigantea: A giant deep sea jellyfish. Global Marine Environment, 11:22 – 25. Benfield, M.C. and W.M. Graham. 2010. In situ observations of Stygiomedusa gigantea in the Gulf of Mexico with a review of its global distribution and habitat. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90(4).
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