The beginnings of a new three-dimensional map of the ocean floor north of Alaska.
Scientists from NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (OCS) and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) recently completed a three-week expedition to map one of the least-known sea-floor areas in the world.
The researchers, based at the Joint Hydrographic Center at UNH in Durham, N.H., spent three weeks aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy in the Arctic using a sophisticated echo sounder to create a three-dimensional map of the sea floor in an area north of Alaska known as the Chukchi Cap.
The data collected during this expedition will help scientists better understand the underwater landscape in the region and improve climate and ocean current circulation models. This was the fourth expedition in a series of cruises to map the Arctic sea floor.