British Scientists Study Hydrothermal Vents in Southern Ocean
09.02.2010 - Water & Oceans, Flora & Fauna, Antarctic
Scientists on the British research ship RRS James Cook have been working a mile and a half deep on the seabed of the Southern Ocean to try and understand the extreme environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.
These vents, first discovered in 1977, are places where volcanic gases and fluid from deep within the Earth push through the crust and enter the sea. The scientists, who have already visited two of these sites in the Antarctic Ocean, are now on their way to a third site, where they hope to learn more about what lives in this widely unexplored feature of the ocean floor.
After first seeing the vents in January 2009, the team returned this year with Isis, a deep-diving remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with robotic arms to collect samples and high-definition cameras to reveal the world of the vents.
After Isis’ successful sampling of the fluids from the vents (which are hotter than 300°C) and of the animals that live around the vents, scientists studied them in specially pressurized chambers.
Early results from these analyses show that the ecosystem around the vents is surprisingly rich in fauna. Given the isolation of the vents, scientists did not expect to find anything but microbes there, however Isis found a significant community of animals at the sites, where they rely on chemicals to get their energy.
The animals will be further analyzed at a molecular level to determine how they are related to animals living at vents in other oceans, as well as how they live in the conditions around the vents, what they eat and how they reproduce.
