Applications of human occupied vehicles at hydrocarbon seeps and vents in the Gulf of Mexico

For the past 15 years, Human Occupied Vehicles (HOV), or research submersibles, have been used to explore and investigate hydrocarbon (oil and gas) seeps and vents (HSV) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. These studies complement the rich history of investigation of chemosynthetic communities around the globe, and are particularly timely in view of increasing interest in oil and gas reserves beneath the continental slope. HOV research results have included: first ecological and physiological studies of HSV chemosynthetic communities in the Gulf, discovery of many new species of deep-sea microbes and invertebrates, new knowledge of the extent and behavior of seafloor gas hydrates, and description of the patterns of seepage and mechanisms that provide hydrocarbons to the seafloor. This paper is a summary of some of these discoveries and HOV technologies that made them possible.