Seafloor Mountain Expedition Studied Crust's Deepest Layer

A topographical map of the Atlantis Massif, which also shows the location of its Lost City hydrothermal vents.

CREDIT: NOAA.

Scientists recently returned from an expedition to an unusual seafloor mountain, where they conducted what may be the first-ever on-site study of a type of rock that makes up a huge amount of our planet, but is largely out of reach.

Researchers aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution sent instruments to the Atlantis Massif, a seamount that lies near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a long volcanic rift bisecting the Atlantic Ocean, where two tectonic plates are being slowly shoved apart and fresh oceanic crust is created.

Seamounts are essentially a mountain that doesn't rise above the ocean's surface.

Unlike most seamounts, which are typically made of volcanic rock, geological forces essentially yanked the Atlantis Massif from the Earth's gabbroic layer — the deepest layer of the Earth's crust, which rests directly on the planet's ever-shifting mantle.

Tethys: robot stalker changing oceanography

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute introduced an underwater robot called Tethys, designed to stalk marine organisms.

The fish-like robot’s first assignment was to observe algae blooms and map its existence below the ocean surface.

Regular autonomous underwater vehicles can only last for a few days or last for longer periods (but are extremely slow).

This long-range robot can travel over long distances in a hurry.

When it zooms through the water, the bot can reach 2.25 miles an hour. The robot was built with power saving software normally found in laptops, so it can conserve its energy.

MBARI’s Chief Technologist, Jim Bellingham, spent four years designing the robot and finally tested Tetys out in the real world.

“Tethys can travel to a spot in the ocean and ‘park’ there until something interesting happens. Once a bloom occurs, Tethys can move fast enough to follow the bloom and watch it evolve, the way a biologist on land might follow and study a herd of deer,” Bellingham said in a statement.

The only way to study an algae bloom before was to randomly run into it while cruising out at sea or deploying an instrument with the hope algae would just float past.

So basically, Tethys can stalk algae! This would change how oceanography is studied, Bellingham said.

When unleashed into the world, the robot turned out to be one smart cookie. It can think for itself and change its behavior. To work in the future, the robot eventually will have to wean its way off satellite control and not depend on a human.

In October, Tethys was sent on a mission to look for patches of algae that drifted in the current. It did well during its four-day trip out at sea and had some battery power remaining when it returned.

In future experiments, Tethys won’t be alone.

Solar Impulse launched

On Friday the Solar Impulse was launched. The Impulse is the first aircraft designed to fly both day and night without using fossil fuel or releasing any emissions.

Developed by Bertrand Piccard, the son of the famous Swiss oceanographer and engineer Jacques Piccardand André Borschberg (PDF) Its mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of a complete day-night-day cycle propelled solely by solar energy.

Expected to make its first test flight between now and the end of 2009, first of all at Dübendorf airport and then from Payerne air base. A first complete night flight is programmed for 2010 and will take place over Switzerland.