Mapping the seafloor to image its structure and character is a fundamental type of observation used in oceanographic research. Repeated, geographically-accurate representations of the seafloor are essential for understanding the complexity of landscapes, the processes that create and disrupt them, and their functions as habitat.

The MBARI Seafloor Mapping team seeks to achieve efficient surveys that are spatially accurate and repeatable in complex terrain and in the deep ocean. This work has been an important part of MBARI development and research for over two decades. Since 2004 we have used Dorado AUVs optimized for mapping to collect 1-meter (3.3 feet) scale topography, backscatter, and subbottom profiler data. Starting in 2011 we have used MBARI’s ROVs as platforms for low altitude surveys with sonar, lidar, and stereo cameras, that yield 1-centimeter (0.4 inch) resolution topography combined with 2-millimeter (0.08 inch) scale color photography. Whether at meter scale or centimeter scale, with repeated surveys our mapping tools have the capability to quantitatively measure change on the seafloor. Our AUV mapping data are catalogued in the MBARI Seafloor Mapping Database and being archived at the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).

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Seafloor Mapping Lab

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Paull, C. K., J. K. Hong, D. W. Caress, R. Gwiazda, H. Kim, E. Lundsten, J. B. Paduan, Y. K. Jin, M. J. Duchesne, T. S. Rhee, V. Brake, J., Obelcz, and M.A.L. Walton. 2024. Massive Ice Outcrops and Thermokarst Along the Arctic Shelf Edge: By-Products of Ongoing Groundwater Freezing and Thawing in the Sub-Surface. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 129(10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JF007719

Peña-Salinas, M.E., D.R. Speth, D.R. Utter, R.M. Spelz, S. Lim, R. Zierenberg, D.W. Caress, P.G. Núñez, R. Vázquez, V.J. Orphan. 2024Thermotogota diversity and distribution patterns revealed in Auka and JaichMaa ‘ja ‘ag hydrothermal vent fields in the Pescadero Basin, Gulf of CaliforniaPeerJ, 12(e17724) https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17724

Julià-Miralles, M., I. Yarbuh, R.M. Spelz, R. Negrete-Aranda, J. Contreras, J.M. Fletcher, A. González-Fernández, R. Zierenberg, D.W. Caress. 2024. Strain localization instabilities and the genesis of multiple axes of seafloor spreading in the Carmen basin, southern Gulf of California. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 113:1265–1283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-024-02426-6

Slead, S. R., M. Wei, S. L. Nooner, W. W. Chadwick, D. W. Caress, and J. Beeson. 2024. Compartmentalization of Axial Seamount's Magma Reservoir Inferred by Analytical and Numerical Deformation Modeling With Realistic Geometry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 129(5). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JB028414

Lundsten, E., C.K. Paull, R. Gwiazda, S. Dobbs, D.W. Caress, L.A. Kuhnz, M. Walton, N. Nieminski, M. McGann, T. Lorenson, G. Cochrane, and J. Addison. 2024. Pockmarks offshore Big Sur, California provide evidence for recurrent, regional, and unconfined sediment gravity flows. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 129(5): e2023JF007374. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JF007374