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Track: Oceanography, Coastal Zone, Marine Resources
Dawn Wright
Oregon State University
104 Wilkinson Hall
Corvalis, OR 97331-5506
Telephone: 541-737-1229
Fax: 541-737-1200
E-mail: dawn@dusk.geo.orst.edu
Rachel Haymon, Ken Macdonald
Tracking Deep Sea Eruptive and Hydrothermal Activity with ArcView
Defining Issue: Oceanographic researchers have discovered that there is tremendous insight to be gained through the comparison of interdisciplinary data sets in a graphic, interactive environment, especially while still in the field. GIS Solution: The authors have developed a Macintosh-based ArcView application to assist oceanographers in integrating diverse data sets and synthesizing results while at sea. This facilitates decision making at sea as well as the efficient dissemination of preliminary results to shore-based colleagues. Methodology: In late 1996 researchers aboard the research vessel Melville surveyed an ultrafast spreading center on the floor of the Southeast Pacific Ocean with the Argo II near-bottom camera and video system. Their goal was to test the hypothesis that subsurface thermal gradients set up by a segmented supply of magma to the seafloor exert primary control on the distribution of deep-sea hot springs, biological communities, and eruptions within the study area. Digitized
observations from the Argo vehicle were formatted and input to ArcView, providing not only a very powerful means of managing a voluminous and diverse data set but also preliminary insight into the factors controlling the distribution of hydrothermal, volcanic, tectonic, and biological features in the region. Many portions of the study area were previously unexplored at the resolution provided by Argo.
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