About

Susan Hautala is an oceanographer who studies ocean circulation, with a partial specialization in the abyssal zone. She is particularly interested in the impact of processes that affect the density of the ocean’s waters. These processes are connected to global climate through the ocean’s heat and freshwater input and transport systems. Her work has included studying the impact of hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean, pathways from the Pacific to Indian Oceans through Indonesia, and processes throughout the water column in waters offshore of the Pacific Northwest. Her research is primarily observational in nature, and she collaborates closely with numerical modelers and scientists from other disciplines. Additionally, she serves as Oceanography’s Associate Director for Undergraduate Education.

Research topics

• Geology
• Oceanography
• Climatology
• Geomorphology
• Meteorology
• Geochemistry
• Geography
• Seismology

Selected publications

• Discovery of Extensive Pockmark Fields in Southern Puget Sound

  2026-05-08

  articleOpen access

  Quasi-linear methane pockmark chains without active gas emissions were discovered in four south Puget Sound inlets adjacent to the Tacoma and Olympia fault zones Well-preserved morphology and local sedimentation rates imply that they formed in the past 50-100 years, a window with three major earthquakes (1949, 1965, 2001) We hypothesize that M6.5-7.1 earthquakes promoted vertical gas/fluid movement and accumulation, causing crater formation via roof collapse as they leaked

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Discovery of Extensive Pockmark Fields in Southern Puget Sound

  2026-03-30

  articleOpen access

  Quasi-linear methane pockmark chains without active gas emissions were discovered in four south Puget Sound inlets adjacent to the Tacoma and Olympia fault zones Well-preserved morphology and local sedimentation rates imply that they formed in the past 50-100 years, a window with three major earthquakes (1949, 1965, 2001) We hypothesize that M6.5-7.1 earthquakes promoted vertical gas/fluid movement and accumulation, causing crater formation via roof collapse as they leaked

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spatial mapping of dissolved methane using an in situ sensor in Puget Sound

  Limnology and Oceanography Methods · 2025-08-21

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Release of methane, as gas bubbles or in the dissolved phase, from the seafloor has been observed in coastal waters (< 200 m) and deep ocean basins (> 1000 m). Methane dissolution within the water column affects the geochemistry of the surrounding water, leading to localized oxygen loss and potential escape to the atmosphere, particularly from shallower sites. Traditional methods for detecting and quantifying dissolved methane rely on collecting discrete water samples for ship‐ or land‐based ex situ analysis and post processing. Here, we report on the use of a reduced response time, in situ methane sensor, the Sensor for Aqueous Gases in the Environment (SAGE), for detecting and quantifying dissolved methane concentrations in a wide range of seafloor environments. During a Fall 2022 research cruise on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson in Puget Sound, SAGE was integrated onto a towed conductivity/temperature/depth rosette and deep‐sea camera system with live‐stream 1 Hz telemetry and used to spatially map the concentration of methane approximately 1 m above the seafloor. The site had been previously identified as an active methane plume field characterized by gas bubbles, fluid venting, and a faulted seabed. The widespread background dissolved concentration of methane measured by SAGE was 83 nM, and a range of 78–670 nM was observed throughout the survey. The results highlight the capacity of SAGE to map the spatial and temporal variability of dissolved methane concentrations in situ and to identify and localize sites of variable methane emissions from the seafloor.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Long Distance Transport of Subsurface Sediment‐Derived Iron From Asian to Alaskan Margins in the North Pacific Ocean

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2024-10-14 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The international GEOTRACES program has been instrumental in demonstrating how marine sediments are a critical source of dissolved Fe to the world's oceans. Here, we present dissolved iron (dFe) from the GEOTRACES North Pacific GP15 section, which, alongside other sediment‐source tracers (including dissolved δ 56 Fe, Mn, 228 Ra, and particulate Fe), allows for identification of the dFe provenance of three distinct dFe depth maxima at the Alaskan margin. Two of these (shelf and abyssal depths) are of local Alaskan sedimentary origin. The third, a mid‐depth dFe maximum with an absence of 228 Ra, is an advected signal that, based on tracer data from Western Pacific GEOTRACES transects and circulation models, must be advected from sedimentary sources on the Asian margin, ∼5,000 km away. This study illustrates the importance of measuring diagnostic sedimentary tracers like radium when assigning local margins as sedimentary sources of marine trace metal budgets.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Slow Slip Detectability in Seafloor Pressure Records Offshore Alaska

  Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth · 2023-01-31 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract In subduction zones worldwide, seafloor pressure data are used to observe tectonic deformation, particularly from megathrust earthquakes and slow slip events (SSEs). However, such measurements are also sensitive to oceanographic circulation‐generated pressures over a range of frequencies that conflate with tectonic signals of interest. Using seafloor pressure and temperature data from the Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment, and sea surface height data from satellite altimetry, we evaluate the efficacy of various seasonal and oceanographic pressure signal proxy corrections and conduct synthetic tests to determine their impact on the timing and amplitude prediction of ramp‐like signals typical of SSEs. We find that subtracting out the first mode of the complex empirical orthogonal functions of the pressure records on either the shelf or slope yields signal root‐mean‐square error (RMS) reductions up to 73% or 80%, respectively. Additional correction with proxies that exploit the depth‐dependent spatial coherence of pressure records provides cumulative variance reductions up to 83% and 93%, respectively. Our detectability tests show that the timing and amplitude of synthetic SSE‐like ramps can be well constrained for ramp amplitudes ≥4 cm on the shelf and ≥2 cm on the slope, using a fully automated detector. The principal limits on detectability are residual abrupt changes in pressure that occur as part of the transition to and from summer to winter conditions but are not adequately characterized by our seasonal corrections, as well as the inability to properly account for instrumental drift, which is not readily separated from the seasonal signal.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• New Zealand Hikurangi Margin temperature and pressure loggers - data sets.

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2022-07-31

  datasetOpen access

  Description of data In 2019, 14 RBR data loggers were purchased as a supplement to an existing NSF grant, and were tested, calibrated, and deployed on the Hikurangi Subduction Zone margin as part of the Evan Solomon (UW) deployment of flow meters at this site. The purpose of the Solomon pore fluid analysis program was to determine the impact of Slow Slip Tectonic Events on near-surface fluid flow for this active margin. The purpose of the supplemental RBR loggers, attached directly to fluid flow meters, was to add the key components of pressure and temperature to this data set and specifically to identify any sediment slope failures and turbidity flows that occur during the two year deployment period. By May 6, 2021, all of the Solomon flow meters have been recovered with the attached UW supplemental RBR loggers. The loggers were be subjected to a final ice bath calibration test prior to data-download in New Zealand and all T/P data will be returned to UW via internet. The physical data loggers were then be returned to UW via air freight. The data in these Zenodo data archive files include all of the pre-cruise and post-cruise calibrations fro the RBR T/P loggers, the raw and calibrated data, and the locations of the stations. Also included are some infrastructure information including a multi-channel seismic profile showing that locations on the Hikurangi margin with known fault zones, and a published catalogue of earthquakes that occurred during the logger deployment period.

  PublisherDOI

• Slow slip detectability in seafloor pressure records offshore Alaska

  2022-05-13 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  This preprint has been deleted as it was posted before approval by USGS.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Transport of Antarctic Bottom Water Entering the Brazil Basin in a Planetary Geostrophic Inverse Model

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2022-11-08 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract The abyssal circulation in the interior portions of the Brazil Basin and northern Argentine Basin were estimated using an overdetermined inverse method conserving neutral surface planetary potential vorticity and salinity. Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) flows with a northward component through 30°S west of the Rio Grande Rise (RGR), as expected. However, in the area east of the RGR, the model shows southward transport in the upper part of the AABW across 30°S. This finding suggests that previous calculations of northward transport through Hunter Channel reaching the broader Brazil Basin may be overestimates. Reduced northward transport through the Hunter Channel has significant implications for the heat budget, implying less diapycnal mixing across the warmer AABW classes, compared to earlier studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Persistence of the Large‐Scale Interior Deep Ocean Circulation in Global Repeat Hydrographic Sections

  Geophysical Research Letters · 2022 · 10 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Climatology
  • Geology
  • Oceanography

  Abstract An assumption of steady‐state is a common basis for deep ocean circulation theory and observational strategies. We use GO‐SHIP's Easy Ocean uniformly gridded CTD data from repeat hydrographic sections to test this assumption. In particular, we ask: for what regions of the world ocean is there evidence that the planetary scale deep geostrophic shear and potential vorticity fields, related to potential density gradients, are in quasi‐steady‐state over the modern observational period? We find that away from boundary currents, planetary‐scale potential density gradients in most parts of the deep ocean are stable from occupation to occupation, with higher variability in a few expected regions and for shorter sections. Median standard errors from all sections are 12%–17% in the Pacific, 10%–23% in the Atlantic, and 11%–36% in the Indian Ocean, with the highest values at 2,000 dbar and lowest at 4,000 dbar.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• New Zealand Hikurangi Margin temperature and pressure loggers - data sets.

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2022-07-31

  datasetOpen access

  Description of data In 2019, 14 RBR data loggers were purchased as a supplement to an existing NSF grant, and were tested, calibrated, and deployed on the Hikurangi Subduction Zone margin as part of the Evan Solomon (UW) deployment of flow meters at this site. The purpose of the Solomon pore fluid analysis program was to determine the impact of Slow Slip Tectonic Events on near-surface fluid flow for this active margin. The purpose of the supplemental RBR loggers, attached directly to fluid flow meters, was to add the key components of pressure and temperature to this data set and specifically to identify any sediment slope failures and turbidity flows that occur during the two year deployment period. By May 6, 2021, all of the Solomon flow meters have been recovered with the attached UW supplemental RBR loggers. The loggers were be subjected to a final ice bath calibration test prior to data-download in New Zealand and all T/P data will be returned to UW via internet. The physical data loggers were then be returned to UW via air freight. The data in these Zenodo data archive files include all of the pre-cruise and post-cruise calibrations fro the RBR T/P loggers, the raw and calibrated data, and the locations of the stations. Also included are some infrastructure information including a multi-channel seismic profile showing that locations on the Hikurangi margin with known fault zones, and a published catalogue of earthquakes that occurred during the logger deployment period.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• A Study to Enravel the Abyssal Circulation of the Northeast Pacific Ocean and its Double Silica Maximum

  NSF · $200k · 2014–2020

Frequent coauthors

• H. Paul Johnson

  University of Washington

  22 shared

• Joan Gomberg

  United States Geological Survey

  13 shared

• Tor A. Bjorklund

  University of Washington

  12 shared

• Douglas E. Hammond

  Southern California University for Professional Studies

  10 shared

• Janet Sprintall

  Scripps Institution of Oceanography

  9 shared

• Jackson Chong

  Scripps Institution of Oceanography

  7 shared

• James T. Potemra

  7 shared

• Wahyu W. Pandoe

  National Research and Innovation Agency

  6 shared

Labs

• OceanographyPI

Education

• Ph. D., Oceanography

  University of Washington

  1992