An Academic-Industrial Partnership to Explore Life in the Deep Gulf of Mexico

Mark C. Benfield Louisiana State University

Oceanography and Coastal Sciences

What Is SERPENT? • Global partnership between the oil and gas industry

and academia

• ROVs and other instrumentation to conduct research

• Operational stand-by time

• Observations and experiments

• Pure and applied research

2

SERPENT Projects

3

Rationale Doc

Ricketts

4000 m

Ventana

1850 m

Jason/Medea

6500 m

ROPOS

5000 m

MaxROVER

914 m

Hercules

4000 m

RCV-150

914 m

Global Explorer

3000 m

4000 m

1850 m

5000 m

914 m

4000 m

914 m

3000 m

Image Credits: Jason (WHOI), ROPOS (CSSF), Doc Ricketts & Ventana (MBARI), Hercules (NOAA), Global Explorer (Deep Sea Systems), MaxROVER (NURP), RCV-150 (NOAA). 4

Oil and Gas ROVs

1500 m

3000 m

Image Credits: Subsea7, Saipem-America, Oceaneering

2000 m

Centurion QX200

Centurion HD

Hercules Pioneer HD

1500 m

Pioneer HD

1000 m

Innovator 4K

4000 m

Innovator

3500 m 3000 m

Millennium/ Magnum

5

Image Credit: New York Times/Transocean 6

Extended Presence in the Sea

GOM Exploration and Production Sites

7

Project Objectives • Deep-sea biological observation system • Mesopelagic and bathypelagic plankton and nekton

– What organisms are present? – Where do they occur (lat, lon, depth)? – When do they occur? – What are they doing?

8

Scientific Discovery

9

Educational Opportunities

10

Educational Opportunities

11

What About Industry?

• Reinforce the ‘E’ in the HSE message

12

Industry Benefits: Corporate Image

• Demonstrate corporate commitment to the environment, to the public, and to shareholders

13

Value to Industry • Better pilots for SERPENT = better pilots for drilling

14

Critical Pre-Impact/Post-Impact • What were conditions like prior to drilling? • Seafloor and water column conditions prior to

an incident

15

SERPENT Surveys

• Post-riser inspection surveys

• Dedicated surveys

• Opportunistic observations

16

Operations

DATABASE ID, Date, Time, Depth, Lat, Lon, Temperature, Other Metadata

CLIENT

17

Long-term Database

18

Long-Term Database 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Dep

th (m

)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

19

Opportunistic Observations

20

Data Mining

21

Scientific Discoveries: Somniosus Shark

22

Results: Manefish (Paracaristius sp.)

• Poorly studied, infrequently sampled mesopelagic fishes

• Best video observations of this little-known species to date

Benfield et al. 2009

Image: NOAA

University of Sao Paulo Museum

23

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea • First records of Stygiomedusa gigantea from GOM

• Four observations: Discoverer Deep Seas, GSF Explorer, Thunder Horse, Development Driller I

Benfield 2010 24

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea • First records of Stygiomedusa gigantea from GOM

• Four observations: Discoverer Deep Seas, GSF Explorer, Thunder Horse, Development Driller I

Benfield 2010 25

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea

Benfield and Graham 2010 26

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea

Benfield and Graham 2010 27

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea

Benfield and Graham 2010

28

Results: Stygiomedusa gigantea

Benfield and Graham 2010

29

Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish)

• Largest marine teleost

30

Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine teleost

• Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic

31

Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine

teleost

• Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic

• Healthy individuals rarely observed

Brian Skerry/National Geographic 32

Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine teleost

• Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic

• Healthy individuals rarely observed

• Encounters with dead or dying animals near shore relatively frequent

33

Results: Regalecus glesne (oarfish) • Largest marine teleost

• Inhabits epipelagic and mesopelagic

• Healthy individuals rarely observed

• Encounters with dead or dying animals near shore relatively frequent

Harpers Weekly 1860 34

Oarfish

35

Oarfish

36

37

38

Gulf SERPENT Sites 2009

39

New Technologies • HD video

• Digital stills camera

• Animal collection system

• Navigation system

40

HD Video

41

Still Camera System

42

43

44

45

46

• LSU Technician just back from the DD3 revisiting surveys around MC252

• Site visit to Thunder Horse tomorrow

Stuart Cook aboard the DD3 03/07/11 47

At this moment …

Acknowledgments

• BOEMRE: James Sinclair, Greg Boland

• BP: (Terry Rooney, Melissa Simpson, Virginia Park), Shell, Chevron, Oceaneering, Saipem-America, Subsea7

• Global Marine, MV Olympic Challenger ROV teams

• Future Partners: Petrobras, Nexen, Pacific Drilling

48

References

Benfield, M.C., J.H. Caruso, and K.J. Sulak. 2009. In situ video observations of two manefishes (Perciformes: Caristiidae) in the mesopelagic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Copeia, 2009(4):637–641.

Benfield, M.C. 2010. Stygiomedusa gigantea: A giant deep sea jellyfish. Global Marine Environment, 11:22 – 25.

Benfield, M.C. and W.M. Graham. 2010. In situ observations of Stygiomedusa gigantea in the Gulf of Mexico with a review of its global distribution and habitat. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90(4).

49