Friday, July 6th, 2007

Expedition Explores The Arctic Sea Floor

Array.alttext

The Puma, or "plume mapper," autonomous underwater vehicle uses sonar, lasers, and chemical sensors to search wide areas near the ocean floor to detect hydrothermal vent plumes. Image courtesy Hanumant Singh, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A team of scientists is heading toward the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean, hunting for hydrothermal vents on the Arctic sea floor. The researchers, based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are on a six-week voyage and are using two new autonomous undersea vehicles to try to explore the world under the Arctic ice Join Ira and guests in this hour of Science Friday as we check in with the expedition, live from onboard a ship in the Arctic, and find out what the expedition is looking for -- and what they're finding.

Guests

Rob Reves-Sohn
Chief Scientist, Arctic Seafloor Expedition 2007
Associate Scientist, Geology & Geophysics Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Tim Shank
Lead Biologist, Arctic Seafloor Expedition 2007
Associate Scientist, Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Jeffrey Seewald
Associate Scientist, Department of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Related Links

Segment produced by:Karin Vergoth

Science Jobs
JMP
Tasty Mug
Support for Science Friday provided in part by the Noyce Foundation
and
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The National Science Foundation
Research Corporation for Science Advancement