News

An article by Frank Pope, Ocean Correspondent at The Times (UK), highlights the InterRidge program and includes an interview with Jon Copley, Co-Chair of InterRidge for 2010-2012:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6863801.ece

We would like to announce the publication of a “Photographic Identification Guide to Larvae at Hydrothermal Vents,” available online at: http://www.whoi.edu/vent-larval-id/, as a PDF (click for high resolution 30 MB, or low resolution 3 MB), or by request as a hard copy. The purpose of the guide is to assist researchers in the identification of larvae of benthic invertebrates at hydrothermal vents.

Below are copies of the biweekly e-news that were sent out to the interridge-mail list in 2009. The most recent e-news is listed first, at the top.

On June 10-11, the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) hosted the 16th International Symposium on Polar Sciences in Incheon, Korea. The symposium brought together ~144 scientists from the broad fields of both ridge and climate research, representing 11 countries around the globe. The meeting was timely, with the expected launch this week of the new Korean research icebreaker R/V Araon, with sea trials planned for November 2009.

The InterRidge Steering Committee is very pleased to announce the awards for the 2009 InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The awards go to Susan Lang, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), USA, to work at a laboratory in Switzerland, and to Surya Prakash, a Ph.D. candidate at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), India, to conduct research in the USA.

JAMSTEC has just launched a new database, Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL), online at the Global Oceanographic Data Center (GODAC):
http://www.godac.jp/portal/page/portal/GDC/GPSS216/TAB_TOP
You can search marine species including those from deep-sea vents and seeps around the Japan Islands and browse photographs, descriptions on morphology/ecology, videos, sample records, and references of each species.

The cover of the 2009 InterRidge Newsletter will highlight research on oceanic core complexes. As a preview to this year's upcoming issue, we posted here the PDF for an article that will be included in the section for International Research at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge:
"Seismic Velocity Variation within the Footwall of an Oceanic Core Complex - Atlantis Massif, Mid-Atlantic Ridge 30°N"
By, Ashlee S. Henig1, Donna K. Blackman1, Alistair J. Harding1, Graham M. Kent1, and Juan-Pablo Canales2

Expedition to NW Rota 2009
April 3-17, 2009, R/V Thompson, Chief Scientist Bill Chadwick
Join scientists from the USA, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan as they explore a submarine volcano with ROV Jason II.
http://nwrota2009.blogspot.com/

We would like to welcome Bulgaria as a new Corresponding Member of InterRidge, with Dr. Vesselin Dekov serving as Bulgaria's first national correspondent. Dr. Dekov is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Sofia. With the addition of Bulgaria, we now have 31 Member Nations and Regions in InterRidge (http://www.interridge.org/nations). Look for the first update from Bulgaria in the next issue of InterRidge News later this year.

The 5th leg of the 2008 Chinese DY115-20 expedition on board R/V Dayangyihao has successfully discovered an inactive hydrothermal vent field at 50.4671°E, 37.6579°S on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). This inactive hydrothermal field is located on the shallowest portion of Segment 27 of the SWIR west of the Gallieni Transform Fault, with relative low mantle Bouguer gravity anomaly (Sauter, et al., 2001). This newly found site is located in the middle of a ridge segment, where the rift valley disappears and the seafloor depth is 1739 m.

In August-September 2008, the third leg of the 2008 Chinese DY115-20 expedition on board R/V DayangYihao has successfully discovered, for the first time, active hydrothermal vent fields on the fast-spreading Southern East Pacific Rise (SEPR) near the equator. This expedition follows the work of a 2005 expedition by R/V DayangYihao, during which water column turbidity anomalies were measured in the region.

Call for bids to host the next InterRidge Office, 2010-2012
Submission deadline: 31 March 2009
In January 2010 the InterRidge Office is due to rotate under the appointment of a new Chair. All interested Members of InterRidge are invited to submit bids to host the new office and nominations for the new Chair. The full call for bids is posted here.