What else can ABE sample?
ABE photographs the sea floor using video cameras mounted in the upper pontoons and a strobe light in the tail. On photographic surveys ABE flies much lower than during mapping missions, around 5 meters (16 feet) above the sea floor. ABE’s digital cameras were upgraded in 2006 to record 12-bit information on each pixel. The extra information allows researchers to process images and recover detail even under poor lighting conditions. As ABE moves along at about 65 cm per second (1.5 mph), sensors record temperature, salinity and sea floor magnetism. Another instrument measures optical backscatter, a measure of the water’s cloudiness that helps ABE know when it has flown through a plume of warm water and ash from a hydrothermal vent. ABE can bring back small samples of rock from the sea floor. ABE uses its thrusters to press a circular wax sampling pad firmly into the bottom, where the wax captures any loose shards.
