심해무인잠수정 해미래를 이용한 마리아나 열수해역 탐사

Abstract

This paper presents the explorations of hydrothermal vents located in the Marina Arc and Backarc Basin using the deep-sea ROV, Hemire. The explorations were conducted by KRISO and KIOST to demonstrate the functional ability of Hemire in various applications for deep-sea scientific research. The mission is to search the reported vents, visual inspection, deploy/recovery of a sediment trap and bait traps, sampling of sediment/water/rock, measure of magnetic field in the vent site, and acquisition of detail map with multi-beam sonar near bottom. We have installed in Hemire three HD cameras for visual inspection, a high-temperature thermometer, a 3-component magnetometer, and a multi-mean sonar to acquire detail contour of bottom or to identify vents in the survey area. The explorations were performed in a campaign from March 23 to April 5, 2016, and the missions were successfully completed. This paper describes the exploration results as well as the operational process of Hemire.