The essays below will help you to understand the goals and objectives of the mission and provide additional context and information about the places being explored and the science, tools, and technologies being used.
By Craig Moyer
The “Submarine Ring of Fire 2014 – Ironman” expedition will have two parts. The first part is focused on iron-oxidizing bacteria at hydrothermal vents and the second part is focused on understanding how the emission of carbon dioxide from active submarine volcanoes acidifies the local marine environment.
Read moreBy Bill Chadwick
Seamounts are underwater mountains, and sometimes they are also active volcanoes. The Mariana Arc is a chain of many seamounts (60) and a few islands (9), which are all active volcanoes.
Read moreBy Shawn Arellano
In few other places on Earth is animal nutrition as inextricably linked to microbes as they are at hydrothermal vents. Microbes have the ability to capture the chemical energy potential in hydrothermal vent fluids, thus growing without the need for sunlight. Vent fauna have evolved to take advantage of this abundant food source.
Read moreBy Craig Moyer
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are dynamic and extremely productive biological ecosystems supported by chemosynthetic microbial primary production. In the absence of photosynthesis, these microorganisms derive energy via the oxidation of reduced chemicals emitted in hydrothermal fluids.
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