The Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 (SRoF'06) expedition will take place on the Mariana arc. It will be the third Ocean Explorer expedition to the Marianas. This image shows a global view of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The four previous Submarine Ring of Fire expeditions are indicated at Explorer ridge, Kermadec arc, and the Mariana arc. Also indicated are the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system (shown as a dashed line) and the plate boundaries defined by island arcs and trenches (solid lines). Click image for larger view and image credit.
Submarine Ring of Fire 2006
April 18 - May 13, 2006
The Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 expedition is the third in a series of explorations of the submarine volcanoes lying along the Mariana arc, extending from south of the island of Guam northward more than 800 nautical miles (1,450 km). We discovered some amazing places in 2004, including an erupting volcano (NW Rota-1), liquid CO2 venting (NW Eifuku), the shallowest "black smoker" chimneys (East Diamante) yet discovered, and more than 12 new species of chemosynthetic organisms at hydrothermal vent sites. All of us came away from the 2004 expedition with a lingering sense of awe that such amazing places remain undiscovered on Earth, which underscores the value of a national ocean exploration program. We are eager to revisit some of these sites and to make the first dives at several new sites.
Please join us on another voyage of discovery along the Mariana arc!
Mariana
Arc Virtual
Visits:
Go to the bottom of the ocean with virtual fly-through animations
of 13
possible dive sites. (Flash, 1.1 Mb.)
NOAA Podcast:
Learn what we hope to discover on this expedition with a video
or audio podcast on the mission. (Quicktime7 H.264, 1.8 Mb.)
Updates & Logs
Click images or links below for detailed mission logs and updates.
The Ring of Fire Missions
Click images or links below for more information on all Ring of Fire missions.
Take a trip to the seafloor! Explore the hydrothermal vents of the Magic Mountain Chimney Fields via a series of interactive computer animations and videos. (Where is Magic Mountain?)
(July - August) Scientists return to the Kermadec Arc, to explore in great detail the Brothers submarine volcano. This will mark the most comprehensive exploration of this type of arc volcano and is one of the most vigorous geothermaly active yet discovered.
(April - May) Scientists return to explore active submarine volcanoes lying along the Mariana Arc, extending for more than 800 nautical miles.
(April - May) Join scientist as they explore the active submarine volcanoes along the Kermadec Arc, located north of New Zealand, with a pair of manned submersibles the PISCES IV and V.
(March - April) An interdisciplinary team of scientists returned to the submarine volcanoes of the Mariana Arc to explore, utilizing an underwater tethered robot (ROPOS).
(February - March) An interdisciplinary team of scientists explored the submarine volcanoes of the Mariana Arc lying north of Guam in the western Pacific.
(June - August) An interdisciplinary exploration team used new technology to investigate the birth of new ocean crust off the coast of western North America, part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire."