V018-14
SUBMARINE VOLCANO-HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON THE OVERLYING OCEAN: QUANTIFICATION OF ERUPTING MID-OCEAN RIDGE VOLCANOES - A GENERATIONAL GOAL
Wednesday, 9 December 2020: 16:42
Virtual
John R Delaney1, Dana Manalang2, Kendra L Daly3, Deborah S Kelley4, William S D Wilcock1, Edward T Baker5 and Douglas S Luther6, (1)University of Washington, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States, (2)University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab, Seattle, WA, United States, (3)University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, St. Petersburg, FL, United States, (4)University of Washington Seattle Campus, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States, (5)NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States, (6)Univ Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
Abstract:
Hydrothermal circulation and volcanism, along the 70,000-km Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR) System, are the principle mechanisms by which the Earth’s mantle interacts with the overlying ocean. Since 1977, >600 MOR
hydrothermal systems have been identified in all ocean basins (Beaulieu et al., 2015; Baker et al., 2017). A major hypothesis has evolved linking the origin of life on earth to processes operating within submarine volcanic systems. Many of these venting systems have been extensively characterized, but the powerful, highly transient MOR
volcanic eruptions are rarely detected and are not well-understood. The eruptive plume-related products, from deep below the seafloor, rise 100's of m to mid-water depths and have never been comprehensively assessed. A large, but unknown fraction of the thermal, chemical, and microbiological outputs of the MOR system are temporarily contained within the rapidly evolving eruptive plume eddies released during short-lived eruptions.
The capacity to interactively and quantitatively define all aspects of an erupting MOR volcano, and its impacts on ambient overlying marine ecosystems, is now within our grasp technologically by employing AI-adaptive autonomy onboard instrument-laden subsea platforms. Axial Seamount, a MOR volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, has erupted 3 times in 20 years and is likely to erupt again soon (Chadwick, et al., 2018). Axial is instrumented with a wide array of sensors linked to the Internet by electro-optical cables of the NSF OOI-Regional Cabled Array System. The OOI-RCA provides interactive connectivity, abundant electrical power, and unprecedented bandwidth to many tens of seafloor and water-column sensor packages located near, on, and within the Axial system. By employing a well-configured, highly adaptive Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (AUV) docked near the Axial caldera, we can utilize the power and bandwidth to develop sustained, in situ water-column and seafloor operations before, during, and after the next eruptions. The ocean community would receive real-time access to all data collected by the AUV, and by the cabled arrays of sensors, during the AUV's multiple, continually adaptive missions. Similar, ever more powerful autonomous underwater systems will be deployed to off-planet oceans before the 150-year AGU Sesquicentennial celebration.
