This is a long overdue post, it has been nearly a month since we concluded the first EPIC journey. EPIC part 1 was an epic success. We achieved all of our goals for the survey. We deployed 70 OBEM and recovered 43 of them, leaving behind 27 stations to record for the next 12 months. We also deployed 27 co-located OBS, which will record earthquakes for the next 12 months.
In addition to seafloor geophysical instrument operations, we collected a significant quantity of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry data over unmapped seafloor, discovering multiple new seamounts in the process. During the cruise, Jim, Ryan, and myself (the co-chief scientists) gave numerous lectures to our student volunteers on many aspects of marine seismic and magnetotelluric (MT) methods, along with training on MT and multibeam bathymetry data processing.
Next year, we will again head to sea to collect the remaining seafloor instruments and do some seafloor dredging to sample some of the seamounts we have discovered. Stay tuned for future blog posts about initial data products and science results from this deployment cruise, not to mention the EPIC recovery cruise!