Sampling the hydrothermal fluids and gases in the caldera.
On June 29 at 8:30 pm EDT, an episode for the Changing Seas TV series will air on WPBT2 focusing on PMEL’s May 2014 expedition to Maug Island, about 450 miles north of Guam to study volcanic ocean acidification. Maug provides scientists with an extraordinary natural laboratory for ocean acidification research. Watch the full episode on the Changing Seas TV YouTube Channel. WPBT2, South Florida PBS, produced the episode along with Open Boat Films.
In May 2014, OAR/PMEL’s Earth-Ocean Interactions (EOI) group and NMFS/ Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Division led a week-long expedition on the NOAA ship Hi’ialakai to Maug Island in the northern Marianas to study the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. Maug is a flooded caldera where volcanic CO2 vents directly into a shallow coral reef ecosystem. The gas emitted by the vents change the chemistry of the seawater around the reefs in a process similar to global ocean acidification.
EOI scientists that were aboard the cruise included Pamela Barrett, David Butterfield, Nathan Buck and Ben Larson from the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington (UW) and Susanna Michael, a graduate student at UW's School of Oceanography.