East Coast Methane Seep Shows Diverse Population of Animals, Life

Just as researchers were surveying the seafloor last fall, they came across a vessel of spotted bubbles rising from the depths. With the help of a ship and crew's investigation, they've found that there is a variety of life on the seafloor surrounding a methane seep, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to a press release, on May 8, the NOAA ship Ron Brown deployed an unmanned sub named Jason to the seafloor offshore Virginia. The sub discovered patches of white bacteria that is able to harness energy by breaking down methane and are a dead giveaway that leaking natural gas is likely to be found nearby. It encountered the seep at a depth of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), the vehicle's deepest dive. 

The Deepwater Canyons Project encountered large bed of mussels, which survive through their symbiotic relationship with methane-eating bacteria. 

The seafloor was mapped last fall by the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer using multibeam sonar, which produces detailed images of the seafloor by calculating the amount of time and distance it takes for sound waves to travel from the ship to the seafloor and back. During that time, the ship and its instruments mapped 5,970 square miles (15,460 square km) of seafloor, an area larger than Connecticut, according to a NOAA release. The expedition found 40 gas seeps off the East Coast.