Expedition to NW Rota 2009
April 3-17, 2009, R/V Thompson, Chief Scientist Bill Chadwick
Join scientists from the USA, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan as they explore a submarine volcano with ROV Jason II.
http://nwrota2009.blogspot.com/

The 5th leg of the 2008 Chinese DY115-20 expedition on board R/V Dayangyihao has successfully discovered an inactive hydrothermal vent field at 50.4671°E, 37.6579°S on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). This inactive hydrothermal field is located on the shallowest portion of Segment 27 of the SWIR west of the Gallieni Transform Fault, with relative low mantle Bouguer gravity anomaly (Sauter, et al., 2001). This newly found site is located in the middle of a ridge segment, where the rift valley disappears and the seafloor depth is 1739 m.

Cruise MSM 10/3 on board R/V Maria S. Merian is underway from 11 Jan - 13 Feb 2009, with scientists from Germany and France, led by Chief Scientist Nicole Dubilier (InterRidge Steering Committee Member). This cruise is part of the German Science Foundation’s Priority Program “From Mantle to Ocean” (SPP 1144) in which scientists are working together to better understand the geology, chemistry, and biology of hydrothermal vents on the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge.