The HD-YLAKE science team has converged on Yellowstone National Park for their third and final field season. While some science teams are collecting their long-term measuring instruments from the bottom of the lake, others are continuing to make new measurements. Although this is the last field season, in some ways this is less of an ending to the project and more of a beginning. Measurements in hand, the scientists will now spend months, even years, poring over the terabytes of data they collected. It’s a lot like putting together a giant puzzle, and the final picture will be a new understanding of what’s happening in the depths of North America’s largest high elevation lake. Photos by Chris Linder, WHOI. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Just as the sun crests the ridge of the Absaroka Range, Todd Gregory pilots the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration (GFOE) research vessel Annie into position at the 'Deep Hole' study area near Stevenson Island. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Todd Gregory (left) and Dave Lovalvo (Founder/President/CEO of GFOE) ready the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Yogi for deployment. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Bill Seyfried (University of Minnesota), at left, anxiously watches the live video streams from Yogi's HD cameras as they approach his long-term geochemistry mooring. Last year, Bill's team deployed two of these instruments to measure the chemicals seeping up from the seafloor over the course of a year. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
ROV pilot Josh Carlson uses Yogi's manipulator arm to gently pick up the data logger from Bill Seyfried's instrument and load it onto a basket attached to the front of the ROV. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Julia Favorito, a graduate student at Oregon State University working with Rob Harris's team, carefully logs every event on the ROV dive. To her left, a monitor shows the position of the research vessel and Yogi's position, 400 feet below. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Yogi returns to the surface with another long-term instrument, a temperature probe (out of sight below the vehicle, dangling from the yellow line) deployed last year by Chief Scientist Rob Sohn. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
ROV pilot Jeff Laning positions Yogi for a heat flow measurement. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
Rob Harris and Julia Favorito from Oregon State University track the progress of their heat flow measurement in real time from the research vessel Annie. Work was completed under an authorized Yellowstone Research Permit.
