Expedition SO295 with RV SONNE: Mining Impact

Chief Scientists: Prof. Dr. Pedro Arbizu Martinez, Dr. Felix Janssen, Onshore support Dr. Matthias Haeckel

Expedition SO295 was conducted between 31st of October and 22nd of December 2022 in the Northeastern Pacific, in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. It was the fourth scientific research cruise in the frame of the Mining Impact project. Main objectiv of this cruise was the post-impact monitoring of areas which had been harvested by Patania II during expedition IP21.

Main tasks of the ROV were sampling of sediments with pushcores, sampling of fauna and nodules and the handling of various in situ tools, such as Benthic chambers, nodule frameas and profilers. To get all of these tools to the seafloor, 2 elevator sysstems were employed. These were lowered to the seafloor being attached to the ship's wire by a special ROV shackle, which was unhooked by the ROV. For recovery of the re-loaded elevators, a dedicated recovery frame (with the ROV shackle attached) was lowered to the seafloor where the shackle was hooked to the respective elevator by the ROV.

In total 25, dives were conducted in water depths between approx. 4080 and 4500 m. 2 dives had to be aborted due to technical issues and 1 dive was needed to recover an elevator.

Publications to which ROV KIEL 6000 contributed
Photos (unless otherwise noted): ROV-Team GEOMAR; for enquiries on usage of high definition material please contact Pressestelle GEOMAR oder Dr. Friedrich Abegg.