HACON
Hot vents in an ice-covered ocean
Hot Vents in an Ice-Covered Ocean
Follow us to the Aurora vent field between 19 Sept to 16 Oct on board R/V Kronprins Haakon! Click on the blog for updates.
An international and multidisciplinary team of 36 scientists and engineers, with the assistance of the officers and crew of the vessel, will conduct the first full-scale multidisciplinary investigation of deep (4000 m) hydrothermal vents under permanent ice cover in the Arctic, investigating the Aurora vent field (82.5°N) in the Gakkel Ridge. These vent field was discovered in 2014 during the German AURORA cruise but only less than 1 min of video is available. The HACON cruise will study the Aurora vents with the ROV Nereus Under Ice (WHOI, with funding from NOAA-OE), the towed Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System (AWI) and a series of other equipment.
Images: C. German, copyright WHOI; A. Purser, copyright AWI
HACON will unravel the geochemical and physical processes that shape the Aurora biological communities and assess the role played by the Gakkel Ridge in connectivity of chemosynthesis-based ecosystems between ocean basins. The project will provide empirical robust data of a pristine system prior to expected climate-change variations and increased human activities in the Arctic region.
About
PROJECT BACKGROUND Forty years after the discovery of hydrothermal vents, research into these unique habitats and their ecosystems is still in the exploratory phase. These recent discoveries have changed the way we understand life on Earth, have challenged knowledge of the origin of life…
Results
Deep vents under ice: the story of a successful cruise
It has been 2 weeks since we came back from our cruise to the Gakkel ridge and finally we are catching up with everything that was put on hold for 4 weeks. During the cruise, we were away from mobile phone range and the…
Melding til Billingstad skole fra Aurora!
10 October 2019 – 82° 53’N, 06° 15’W Last year, the kids in the 3rd grade at Billingstad school (Norway) learnt about the Dumbo octopus. The beautiful drawings they made can be seen in the HACON “Outreach” web page. Just before we left for the…
What happens after work?
8 October – 82° 53’N, 06° 15’W Life on board is mostly about doing science, but a month on board cannot be just work. Both scientists and crew members need to rest and enjoy their free time. One of the highlights every day on board…
Finding a needle in a haystack
03 October – 82° 53’N 13:37 on board Kronprins Haakon over the Gakkel Ridge. Today, the ice drift is collaborating with us and with some calculations and good planning from the bridge, we deploy OFOBS (Ocean Floor Observation Bathymetry System) for video and bathymetry…
First samples from the Aurora seamount
We have been in the area of the Aurora seamount for 3 days and the different teams have started working and getting samples. Working under ice is very different from working in open water. We are at the mercy of the ice drift and…
