Researchers are using ocean-bottom and land-based seismometers to record the R/V Marcus Langseth’s soundings from afar, to better understand the potential impacts of large earthquakes in the Cascadia region.

While researchers search for a megathrust fault off the Pacific Northwest coast, they are also helping to map the seafloor in high resolution and detect underwater methane seeps.

When using sound to search for an undersea fault, researchers must take special precautions to protect dolphins, whales and other vulnerable species.

Using sound and a 7.5-mile-long streamer towed behind the boat, scientists can collect a tremendous amount of data from under the seafloor.

Before embarking on a 6-week voyage to scan for Cascadia’s megathrust fault, the research team had to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel.

Researchers have set sail to find and map a fault that causes giant earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.

Heading west from coastal Oregon we are able to make our initial seismic images beneath the seafloor continuously as we go. Where once our data would have been recorded on magnetic tapes only to be analyzed long after the expedition was over, thanks to the wonders of modern signal processing, we can now make images… read more

Yesterday we deployed one of the Langseth’s long cables equipped with listening devices and began the second phase of our survey which we have been awaiting with much anticipation.

In the research expedition now underway, we will investigate the Juan de Fuca plate before it disappears under North America to understand why earthquakes happen where and when they do within the Cascadia subduction zone off the Pacific Northwest. Our ship, the R/V Marcus G. Langseth, is one of 25 research vessels available to U.S. scientists for oceanographic research.