Digital video collected during 149 submersible dives by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) at suspected hydrocarbon seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico from 1988-07-28 to 2002-06-04

This dataset contains videographic data of ocean floor biology and geology at a suspected hydrocarbon seep sites in the Gulf of Mexico, captured during 149 submersible dives at 48 different lease block areas over the course of 15 dive seasons from 1988 to 2002, collected for studies funded by the Minerals Management Service, now Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Seep communities were found in all but four dives, although sparse community development was common. Because BOEM is tasked with protecting sensitive benthic communities from impacts of operational activities on the outer continental shelf and continental slope, locating these communities is an important task. Although use of surface attributes, particularly strength of seabed reflectivity (from 3-D seismic data) has been very successful in identifying areas of hard bottom (seep-related carbonate) and gas-filled sediment, visual evidence is still considered the best and most irrefutable data. The submersible video database will provide a valuable foundation of observational data for cold seep communities on the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope.

The video in this dataset was originally captured on several different analog video formats. To create the digital video files, the analog video was transferred to DVD, extracted as .avi files, and transcoded at a final stage to MPEG-2 files identified with the extension .mpg. The entire dataset comprises 3,533 .mpg clips of duration 5 minutes or less, representing a total of 280 hours of bottom time. In a few cases, the intermediate .avi files have been archived as well. In one dive (JSL_2634), video has been archived in .VOB and .mp4 format.