CALENDAR:

EDUCATION:

BACKGROUND:
Mission
Project Description
Cruise Plans:

(photo WHOI)

This cruise will have two parts, an OSU part and a NOAA part. The objective of the OSU part of the cruise is to deploy twelve Acoustic Extensometer instruments at South Cleft on the Juan de Fuca Ridge (approx. 44^o40'/-130^o22'with the Jason ROV (utilizing the map data collected by Jason there last summer during the Cleft98/Thompson cruise). The Acoustic Extensometer instruments are designed to measure the distance between neighboring instruments very precisely (~1 cm) in order to detect ground motions associated with magma intrusions or seafloor spreading events. The instruments will make daily measurements across a 1.4-km baseline for 5 years. This part of the project is funded by the National Science Foundation RIDGE Program and will last 10 days.

The objective of the NOAA part of the cruise (2 days) is to deploy a mooring and surface buoy at Axial Volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge (approx. 45^o56'-130^o00') to establish a real- time data link from the seafloor to shore via acoustic modem and satellite. Jason will be used to deploy an instrument package on the seafloor that will communicate with the surface buoy once it is deployed. This part of the cruise is funded by the NOAA VENTS Program.

For more information: Credits/Contacts
oar.pmel.vents.webmaster@noaa.gov