Land Ho! The RV Investigator approaches McDonald Islands
Major IMAS Investigator voyage to study impact of submarine volcanoes on ocean ecosystems
The data from these investigations are used to identify and map hydrothermal systems driven by underwater volcanoes, which they suspect might be driving the Southern Ocean ecosystem from the bottom-up.
They’re testing the hypothesis that hydrothermal systems release iron, a fertiliser for planktonic blooms which ultimately feed-in to many ecosystems and create half of the planet’s oxygen. The research is integral in understanding global fluctuations in nutrients and their transferral between the inorganic earth and the organic life upon it.
Click here to follow the CSIRO Blog: Big Ben Erupts: Australia’s active volcano cluster blows its lid
and click here for: CSIRO OCEANS Blog