Expedition SO239 took place between the 11th of March and 30th of Aprilo, 2015 and led from Balboa, Panama, to the North-East-Pacific, more precies the Clarion-Clipperton-Fracture Zone (CCZ) and terminated in Manzanillo, Mexico.
Aim of the expedition was to document the fauna living in manganese nodule fields in the CCZ and adjacent seamounts, and then to estimate possible impacts of the (planned) mining of manganese nodules.
ROV KIEL 6000 was, besides AUV, Multicorer, Gravity Core, Box Core, Epibenthic Sled and CTD one of the deployed tools and accomplished 15 scientific dives in water depths of more than 5000 m. Main tasks were exploration, mapping, documentation and sampling of the fauna living in the nodule fields and on the seamounts
The expedition was conducted within the JPI Oceans Project.
Photos (unless otherwise noted): ROV-Team GEOMAR; for enquiries on utilisation of image material please contact Public Relations Dpt. GEOMAR oder Dr. Friedrich Abegg.