New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire 2005 Explorers
Edward T. Baker
Supervisory Oceanographer
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Seattle, Washington
Ed Baker, a veteran of more than 60 research cruises, was educated at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Washington, where he is an affiliate professor in the Department of Oceanography. Currently a supervisory oceanographer at PMEL, he joined NOAA in 1975. Dr. Baker has investigated deep-sea processes, especially hydrothermal vents and submarine canyons, throughout the Pacific Ocean.
Doug
Bloedorn
Submersible Support Technician
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Doug is the newest member of the submersible operations team. His prior experience is mostly from the U.S. Navy were he spent his time repairing fast attack submarines. Present duties include welding, fabricating parts, system coatings, and general maintenance.
Dave
Butterfield
Chemical Oceanographer
JISAO Program, University of Washington
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Seattle,
Washington
Dave Butterfield received a bachelors degree in Chemistry and German from Portland State University, served two years in the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, and received a PhD. in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Washington. His primary research interests concern the interaction of seawater with the solid crust in volcanic hydrothermal systems. Topics of special interest include the effects of boiling on hydrothermal fluids, role of magmatic volatiles in hydrothermal systems, evolution of hydrothermal systems over time, effects of volcanic eruptions, and the role of fluid chemistry in microbial ecology. Dave has sailed on 31 submersible expeditions to hydrothermal sites on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, Southern East Pacific Rise, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Marianas Volcanic Arc.
Bill
Chadwick
Geologist
CIMRS Program, Oregon State University
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Newport,
Oregon
Bill Chadwick became very interested in volcanoes when Mount St. Helens erupted during his senior year as a geology major at Colorado College in 1980. St. Helens became the focus of his graduate work at the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned his PhD. He has worked on active volcanoes ever since, both on land and underwater. His main interest during the 2004 Submarine Ring of Fire expedition is to compare the eruptive behavior of the submarine volcanoes of the Mariana arc to those on land.
Malcolm
Clark
Principle Scientist (Deepwater Fisheries)
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Wellington, New Zealand
Malcolm is a Principal Scientist (Deepwater Fisheries) at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a deepsea fish and seamount ecology specialist. Malcolm leads a science team carrying out stock assessment research on deepwater commercial species, in particular orange roughy. He also heads NIWA research on the biodiversity and ecology of seamounts and the effects of fishing on seamount fauna and habitat. He has run several surveys on seamounts of the Kermadec Ridge, which have found many of the hydrothermal vent species known to date from New Zealand waters.
Maximilian
D. Cremer
MS, Deputy Director of Operations and Submersible Pilot
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Max received his academic training from the Universität Bonn and the Institut für Meereskunde, Kiel, Germany. His thesis work at the University of Hawaii (UH) in the early 1990s was on the geochemistry of submarine hot spot volcanoes, namely Loihi Seamount, Hawaii; an opportunity which also provided his first exposure to deep sea diving. After graduating, Max managed the Radiochemical Facility at the UH Department of Oceanography for four years, specializing in uranium-series systematics. During this time, he was a regular science party member on HURL-sponsored missions to Loihi Seamount. Max joined the HURL submersible operations team as a support technician, swimmer and chase boat operator in 1998. He completed his pilot training in late 2003 and has over 15 years of seagoing experience in the oceanographic sciences.
Cornel
E.J. de Ronde
Geologist
Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (GNS)
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Cornel de Ronde is a Principal Scientist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS). He leads the "Offshore Minerals" part of the "Economic Growth for New Zealand through Mineral Wealth" program. The offshore minerals research has largely concentrated on seafloor hydrothermal vents associated with submarine arc volcanoes of the Kermadec arc, NE of New Zealand. This group was recently funded $4.9M over the next six years to continue their work which started in 1997. Since that time, de Ronde and colleagues at GNS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and elsewhere, have surveyed the entire Kermadec Arc (~1,220 km) and beyond into international and Tongan territorial waters, which they completed in Sept/Oct, 2004. They have surveyed around 35 major volcanoes and 8 smaller volcanic edifices. In Oct/Nov 2004, de Ronde and colleagues teamed up with Japanese scientists and dove for the first time anywhere along the arc, on Brothers volcano, with the JAMSTEC submersible Shinkai 6500. De Ronde and colleagues have also participated on research cruises to map the Tofua (Tonga), Tabar-Lihir-Tanga-Feni (Papua New Guinea) and Mariana (Guam) Arcs, and the Ghizo Ridge (Solomon Islands) for submarine hydrothermal venting.
Bob Embley
[ 
OceanAGE interview ]
Co-Chief Scientist for the New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire Expedition (Legs 1 and 2)
Geophysicist
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Newport,
Oregon
Dr. Embley received a PhD in Marine Geology and Geophysics from Lamont Doherty Geological (now Earth) Observatory in 1975 and came to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1979. He has been with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Newport, Oregon and has since served as Team Leader for marine geology in the NOAA Vents Program. His more than 80 scientific publications include studies of a wide range of deep-sea features, including submarine canyons, sediment slides, fracture zones, the mid-ocean ridge, and most recently, intraoceanic arc volcanoes. He has participated in more than 50 oceanographic expeditions in the Atlantic, Pacific and Antarctic Oceans over 39 years and has experience with deep-towed cameras, sidescan sonars, manned submersibles and remotely operated vehicles. He served as chief scientist on the Submarine Ring of Fire expedition in 2004 to the Mariana Arc that used the ROPOS remotely operated vehicle to explore seven of the hydrothermally active volcanoes.
Leigh
Evans
Research Assistant
CIMRS Program, Oregon State University
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Newport,
Oregon
Leigh Evans has worked with the helium isotope lab at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport Oregon for twelve years. His activities include the extraction of gases from water samples, chemical analysis of helium isotopes, the development of new methods and instrumentation, and the analysis helium isotope data. He graduated from San Diego State University with an MS and Lafayette College with a BS degree in Chemistry. Previous to his work at Hatfield he worked for five years with a manufacturer of chemical analysis instrumentation. He has participated in twelve oceanographic expeditions in the past twelve years. On the Ocean Exploration cruises he will be gathering samples of vent fluids for gas analysis.
Ron
Greene
Research Assistant
CIMRS Program, Oregon State University
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Newport,
Oregon
Ron Greene has been part of the NOAA Vents chemistry group, working out of Newport Oregon, for 13 years. He is a Research Technician and earned his degree in Geological Oceanography from the University of Washington. He specializes in the collection and processing of seawater samples for helium along with the data analysis. The degree of mantle enrichment of helium isotopes 3He and 4He, found in the seawater samples, is determined by use of a high vacuum extraction lab and an extremely sensitive mass spectrometer in Newport. Ron finds many aspects of the work and travel interesting. He also enjoys shipboard life, as he used to fish commercially and spent time in the Navy.
Dan
Greeson
Chief Engineer, ROV Pilot
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Dan served in the Navy's nuclear submarine force for 28 years, including a tour of duty aboard the nuclear powered deep submersible, Submarine NR-1. Upon retirement from the Navy, he earned a PhD. in Ocean Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dan joined the HURL organization as Chief Engineer in 1998.
Terry
Kerby
Operations Director, Chief Submersible Pilot
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Terry has over 35 years of seagoing experience, of which 25 has been spent piloting submersibles. He joined the Hawaii Undersea Research Lab as pilot and Operations Manager when the program started in 1981. Terry has the overall responsibility of overseeing HURL operations at sea and feels that every dive is a dive of exploration. A quarter century of submersible diving has not dampened his thrill of exploring the ocean depths.
John
Lupton
Oceanographer
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory - Newport,
Oregon
After majoring in physics at Princeton University, John Lupton went on to receive a PhD in physics at the California Institute of Technology. He is currently an Oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and also holds the position of Adjunct Professor at Oregon State University. Dr. Lupton has focused much of his research on the distribution of helium isotopes and rare gases in terrestrial systems, including applications to ocean circulation, submarine hydrothermal venting and volcanic activity, and degassing of the earth’s mantle. Most recently Dr. Lupton has participated in studies hydrothermal venting along oceanic arcs such as the Tonga-Kermadec Arc and the Mariana Arc.
Alexander
Malahoff
Co-Chief Scientist for the New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire
Expedition (Leg 2)
Chief Scientist, Chief Executive, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
Ltd
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Alex Malahoff has had a distinguished career in marine geology, marine engineering, deep-sea exploration, and geophysics. Before starting at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd (GNS) in 2002, he was Professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii. He was also a director of the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL), a world-class centre for deep sea exploration. Much of Dr Malahoff's career has been centred on the great tectonic features of the South Pacific Ocean, particularly the Hawaiian Islands.
A veteran of more than 230 dives in US, Canadian, Russian, and Japanese research submersibles, he has won accolades for developing innovative technologies for undersea exploration. Dr Malahoff has an MSc from Victoria University of Wellington, and a PhD in geophysics from the University of Hawaii. In 2002, he received an honorary DSc from Victoria University for his contributions to oceanography, geophysics, and marine engineering.
Gary
Massoth
Co-Chief Scientist for the New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire
Expedition (Leg 1)
Principle Scientist
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Gary Massoth has been involved in studies of the distribution and chemical nature of submarine hydrothermal systems since 1981. As a chemical oceanographer with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory between 1975 and 1999, he helped establish the VENTS hydrothermal research program. His interests there included the spatial occurrence of venting along divergent plate boundaries, episodic venting events (megaplumes), and subseafloor processes and sources that induce extremes in the chemical composition of vent fluids (e.g., phase separation, exsolution of magmatic fluids). He was responsible for the development of the VENTS manifold sampler, the first submersible system designed to simultaneously measure vent fluid temperature and capture fluids, and the SUAVE in situ chemical analyzer used to survey hydrothermal plumes and, when deployed on various submersibles and ROVs, seafloor venting. Since moving to New Zealand in 1999 to join the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS), his interests have shifted to exploration of venting along "the other side of the plate" and to evaluating the influence of magmatic fluids on chemical flux and seafloor mineral deposition.
Andrew
D. Opatkiewicz
Graduate Student
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Andrew is a graduate student studying the microbial ecology of diffuse hydrothermal vents. His current research focuses on coupling changes in microbial community structure with the chemical environment over time and space. On this cruise he will be culturing thermophilic anaerobic microorganisms from venting fluids, and taking fluid samples for chemical, DNA and microscopic analyses.
Andrew received his bachelors degree in Biology from the University of New Hampshire in 2002, and is currently in his second year at the University of Washington working with Drs. John Baross and Dave Butterfield.
Steve
Price
Maintenance Chief and Pilot in Training
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Steve served as an IC Electrician/Diver on nuclear submarines in the mid-1980's. He spent ten years as a commercial hard hat diver in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, where he supported the offshore oil industry including mixed gas and saturation dives to 820 ft. He broke into the submersible industry with American Deepwater Engineering in 1999 where he worked as a technician and diver with Deep Worker submersibles #8 and #9. He also qualified as a pilot and made about 35 dives before the company closed its doors. Since then, he has been with HURL as a technician and diver and in 2004 became the Maintenance Chief. He has been co-piloting the Pisces IV and V for four years.
Kevin
Roe
Oceanographer
JISAO Program, University of Washington
NOAA Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory – Seattle,
Washington
Kevin Roe is an Oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. He is an experienced oceanographer, having first participated in seagoing research over 25 years ago. His education includes a B.S. in Chemical Oceanography from University of Washington and an M.S. from Florida State University. He has been on numerous cruises that utilize remotely operated vehicles and the Alvin submersible. During this cruise, Kevin will be analyzing in near real-time the unique fluids that are venting from the Kermadec Arc hydrothermal vents. He will first analyze the vent fluids for dissolved chemicals that are best analyzed immediately, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and silica, and he will measure pH rapidly before oxidation, precipitation, bacterial utilization or simple degassing occur. His onshore analyses include dissolved metals such as iron, manganese, zinc, copper, cadmium, silver, and lead and major ions, which include sodium, chloride, magnesium, sulfate, calcium, strontium, potassium, borate, and trace elements. In addition, Kevin will help maintain the Hydrothermal Fluid Particulate Sampler (HTFP), nicknamed "the Beast”.
Ashley
A. Rowden
Ecologist
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Wellington, New Zealand
Ashley Rowden has over 15 years of research experience in the aquatic realm - studying anything from meiofauna to dolphins, on tidal flats to the deep-sea, comprising hours and hours wading in mud to weeks and weeks on the high seas. His interests include: observing, describing and understanding pattern in the marine environment. He is particularly interested in pattern formation and maintenance in benthic 'communities' of soft sediments, complex biogenic substrates, and of habitats such as seamounts, vents and seeps.
Matt
Stott
Microbiologist
Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences
Wairakei, New Zealand
Matthew Stott is a research scientist for GNS's extremophile research group based in Wairakei, New Zealand. He is interested in the ecology of microorganisms living in a variety of “extreme” environments including terrestrial hotsprings, acidic mud pools and submarine hydrothermal vents. Matthew got his first taste of ocean going exploration last year when JAMSTEC brought the Shinkai 6500 to study several of the seamounts on the Kermadec Arc. He has previously worked with CSIRO (Australia) and the University of Warwick studying the use of high temperature acid-loving microbes in the mineral processing industry. In his spare time, he loves to rock climb, watch the Wallabies beat the All Blacks and white water kayaking. He has also recently found a new love for honey-roasted peanuts.
Peter
Townsend
Engineering Manager, ROV Pilot
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
A graduate of Chaminade University of Honolulu with a BS in Computer Science, Peter served in the Navy's submarine force for 20 years as a weapons systems technician experienced in hydraulics and electronics. Upon retirement from the Navy, he worked in the corporate IT field for ten years. Peter joined the HURL organization as Engineering Manager in 2004.
Colin
Wollerman
Electrical/Electronic Technician, Pilot in Training
Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Colin has been designing, building, installing, and maintaining electrical control and power distribution systems for the marine and sub sea industry for the past 12 years. The last five of those have been with HURL's Pisces IV and Pisces V manned submersibles. Colin brings an array of valuable skills to the offshore arena as well as a positive “make it happen” attitude, which bridges the gap between operations and maintenance. Colin and his family have lived in Hawaii for the last ten years.
Ian
Wright
Ocean Geology
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Wellington, New Zealand
Ian Wright is a Principal Scientist with NIWA's Ocean Geology group. Over the last 20 years, Ian has participated in more than 16 research expeditions around New Zealand's continental margin and the southwest Pacific. The main thrust of this work has been to understand the fundamental processes of submarine volcanism along the Kermadec sector of the Pacific Ring of Fire immediately north of New Zealand. This work has ranged from discovering new volcanoes larger than Mt Ruapehu, to showing the existence of explosive submarine eruptions that have created calderas up to 10 km wide, through to understanding the modes of submarine edifice collapse and potential tsunami generation. More recently, Ian has initiated research with benthic biologists to relate multibeam seafloor mapping (particularly backscatter imagery) to different seafloor substrates and ultimately to variations in marine biodiversity. Ian is also leader of NIWA National Centre for Coasts and Oceans.
