[1] An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is an ideal platform that enables a closer approach to the seafloor than other platforms. The AUV provides remarkable advancement not only in imaging small-scale bathymetry with high resolution but also in imaging the spatial distribution of scattering signals within a water column. Acoustic echoes can be recorded continuously by AUVs, potentially providing information related to hydrothermal plumes within a water column. In May 2007, such an AUV, Urashima, of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, captured fantastic acoustic images within the water column above an active hydrothermal field, the Iheya-North field, off Okinawa. Numerous filamentous and hyperbolic echoes were recorded on the side-scan sonar images. According to the temperature and geochemical anomaly, the scattering signals within the water column were hydrothermal plumes upwelling from the vent area. This proof of concept has implications for long-range exploration for vent field with AUVs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.