Key points
- TMC used ROVs during baseline campaigns to image and sample seafloor megafauna, helping characterize the communities living in its exploration area.
- ROVs tracked sediment plumes from test mining by imaging the seafloor at varying distances from the collector tracks to measure their spatial footprint.
- One year after test mining, ROV imagery showed nodules had shed their initial covering of sediment, a finding TMC says suggests the nodules are again available as habitat.
