From the Max Planck Society
New deep-sea hot springs discovered in the Atlantic
Scientists from the MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen on board the German research vessel Meteor have discovered a new hydrothermal vent 500 kilometres south-west of the Azores. The vent with chimneys as high as one meter and fluids with temperatures up to 300 degrees Celsius was found at one thousand metres water depth in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery of the new deep-sea vent is remarkable because the area in which it was found has been intensively studied during previous research cruises. The MARUM and Max Planck researchers describe their discovery in their video blog.
Chimney-like structures spew hot fluids of up to 300 degrees Celsius that contain large amounts of methane and hydrogen sulfide.
Image: MARUM
The Bremen scientists were able to find the hydrothermal vent by using the new, latest-generation multibeam echosounder on board the research vessel Meteor that allows the imaging of the water column above the ocean floor with previously unattained precision. The scientists saw a plume of gas bubbles in the water column at a site about 5 kilometers away from the known large vent field Menez Gwen that they were working on. A dive with the remote-controlled submarine MARUM-QUEST revealed the new hydrothermal site with smokers and animals typically found at vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Since the discovery of the new vent, the scientists have been intensively searching the water column with the multibeam echosounder. To their astonishment, they have already found at least five other sites with gas plumes. Some even lie outside the volcanically active spreading zone in areas where hydrothermal activity was previously not assumed to occur.
“Our results indicate that many more of these small active sites exist along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge than previously assumed,” said Dr. Nicole Dubilier, the chief scientist of the expedition. “This could change our understanding of the contribution of hydrothermal activity to the thermal budget of the oceans. Our discovery is also exciting because it could provide the answer to a long standing mystery: We do not know how animals travel between the large hydrothermal vents, which are often separated by hundreds to thousands of kilometres from each other. They may be using these smaller sites as stepping stones for their dispersal.”
Research on deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic is the objective of the 30 marine scientists from Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, Portugal, and France who have been on board the German research vessel Meteor since September 6th. The expedition to the submarine volcano Menez Gwen near the Azores is financed by MARUM, the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences in Bremen. “One of the questions that the team would like to answer is why the hydrothermal sources in this area emit so much methane – a very potent greenhouse gas,” says chief scientist Nicole Dubilier, who is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Census of Marine Life Vents and Seeps project ChEss (Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Science). “Another important focus of the research is the deep-sea mussels that live at the hydrothermal vents and host symbiotic bacteria in their gills. The mussels obtain their nutrition from these bacteria.”
The hydrothermal vent crab Segonzacia on a mound that is covered with white bacteria and mineral precipitates.
Image: MARUM
Video blog: “News from the main deck”
An expedition on a research vessel is not only marked by great moments, like this discovery; everyday life on the Meteor is also filled with other exciting activities and events. Work on a research vessel goes on round the clock throughout the entire expedition. In his video podcast “Neues vom Peildeck / News from the observation deck”, available through the Hamburg-based newspaper Abendblatt, and in German and English on YouTube (see link below), Dennis Fink, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, reports on the activities of the ship’s remote-operated vehicle (ROV) MARUM-QUEST, the various instruments used by the scientists and life on board the ship. In the two-minute video blogs, Fink and his colleagues show fascinating images direct from the sea floor.
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Contact:
Dr. Manfred Schlösser, Public Relations
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen
Tel.: +49 421 2028704
E-mail: mschloes@mpi-bremen.de
Albert Gerdes, Public Relations
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Research University of Bremen, Bremen
Tel.: +49 421 218-65540
E-mail: agerdes@marum.de
Apparently this will change the oceans’ energy budget for an unknown period and with that the world energy budget. Kevin Trenberth has been trying to get his head around thr world energy budget for some time. Earlier this year (Science 328:317 16 April 2010) he reported a developing huge discrepancy between measured radiative energy loss and measured ocean heat content change. His energy gap starts in 2004 and widens to 75 percent of the measured radiation budget in five years. His graph shows that a large part of the loss is from ocean heat content change. I was quite sure some definite physical process had to start in 2004 to cause this but did not quite understand what it could be. But natura non facit saltum so we must look for a human cause. This is fitting because he thinks that humans cause climate change. In his case, the clue to it is in his paper where we read: “Since 2004, ~3000 Argo floats have provided regular temperature soundings of the upper 2000 m of the ocean, giving new confidence in the ocean heat content assessment…” And not coincidentally, that is when the discrepancy started. My advice to him is to learn how new equipment behaves before you rush into print with half-ass conclusions.
Geo-engineers are already working with BP Oil on ways to plug those dangerous greenhouse gas emitting vents.
I’ve repeatedly speculated, on WUWT and other science blog sites, that Hydrothermal vents could have a much greater impact on the Earth’s thermal budget than the relatively small estimates hitherto attributed. No one bothered to reply! This lack of interest seems strange, considering that our understanding of the ocean depths is even more limited than that of the Earth’s climate or weather (or the sufaces of either the Moon or Mars!!) This is also likely to be highly variable and unpredictable factor over time. I’m pleased that so worthy a scientific body as the Max Planck Institute is at last on the case.
Can someone explain this to me….
If these vents are located in many spots on the ocean floor, and have been spewing super hot liquid for billions of years – how come the oceans have not heated up to at least “hot”. Billions of years of this should have resulted in hot oceans ?
Unless that is of course – geothermal energy is the source of most of our climate energey and is just radiating out. That would mean solar and GH is negligable.
I dont under stand how you can have billions of years of super hot water coming out and the oceans not becoming hot ?
We know little about the ocean bed which covers 70% of the earth’s surface. My suspicion is that geothermal energy has been grossly underestimated in the Earth energy models. Hydrothermal vents may contribute more to the thermal budget of the oceans than previously assumed, but I think these spectacular features are only the tip of the energy iceberg.
I speculate that the main energy exchange between ocean and crust is from a large number of deep fissures (both macro and micro). The multitude of fissures allow cold water to seep deep into the Earth’s crust and then carry the energy up to the bottom of the ocean by convection.
More research needs to be done to understand how much of an effect hydrothermal energy could have on our climate.
http://mattson.creighton.edu/H2S/H2S_Info.html
H. Gas Solubility of H2S – Hydrogen sulfide dissolves in water to make a solution that is weakly acidic. At 0 oC 437 mL H2S(g) will dissolve in 100 mL H2O, producing a solution that is about 0.2 M. However, the solution process is fairly slow. The solution equilibrium is = H2S(g) H2S(aq)
Would like to know which has the greater effect of ocean acidification, the tons of this stuff or CO2 absorbed at the surface?
So does that mean we need to adjust the temps downwards to allow for the venting heat island effect?
This is part of the larger issue as to what degree does undersea volcanic activity directly heat the oceans. Any oceanography textbook will show the map of deep ocean temperatures with the mid-ocean ridges (spreading zones) clearly visible as a 1-2 degree Celsius increase of the deep ocean temperature. But the standard estimate is uncertain for two main reasons – (i) the deep oceans have not been extensively spatially temperature-mapped and (ii) we do not have long time series of accurate deep ocean temperatures (an important deficient when carbon isotope data tells us that deep ocean water can have turn-over times of up to a few thousand years).
Should not the U.S. Navy have a good idea how many underwater volcanoes and vents there could be. I am sure with decades of listening for submarines with submarines and listening devices they must have an extensive record. I guess there could be a good possibilty they will not release this information at risk of giving away their technology. I also suppose being in the proximity of these noise makers, could be good hiding places so would not want to give up the locations, maybe?
The discovery of the new deep-sea vent is remarkable . . .
If research such as this and the reports that follow could be stripped of the statements like the one above, and if everyone would stop using any of the various phrases “more than previously xxxx” and report the few facts they have learned, I would find it easier to read these things.
Regarding the “remarkable” statement: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a known “spreading center” and under-sea hydrothermal vents were first discovered along the East Pacific Rise in 1977 and later in the Atlantic. They make this sound as though they were surprised to find anything but that is true only in the sense that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is quite long. Just because you can’t find a cab in NYC in a rain storm doesn’t mean the City has no cabs.
And the comments about the “thermal budget” are likewise silly. One should assume only that there are some of these places not yet found, that no one knows how many are to be found, and that the contribution to the thermal budget from them or the hot rocks under non-venting parts is unknown. Only when they have done a complete inventory of the ocean floor, taken measurements, made a cumulative estimate – can they then get around to “more or less” reports. Would it not make for better understanding to say that with P% (& MM miles) of the ridge investigated only p’(%) (& mm’ miles) is leaking so much heat and has ‘smokers’?
I do applaud the effort and the reporting of it. Thanks.
It seems as if at least once a month previously assumed aspects of climate change keep changing.
Geologists are not surprised; marine biologists are. This has been the problem with climate science, too. When you find something weird or interesting in the lithosphere, hydrosphere or yes, the atmosphere or other planets, too, first speak to a geologist before your build a new science out of it.
The formation of a large class of basemetal and precious metal deposits have been formed from “smokers” since the Archean (3.8 to 2.5 mya). A present day significant one is in the Red Sea – another seafloor spreading locality, and in the Pacific with its arcuate fractures traced by volcanic islands. Why it would be a surprise to anyone that the largest fracture zone in the earth, where new crust is being formed, should have many and closely spaced smoking vents along it and laterally over the considerable width (half the ocean width) is the real surprise.
Popular article at:
http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=Red%20Sea%20smoker%20zinc&mkt=en-ca&setLang=en-CA
“Because so much metal is spewed out, hydrothermal vents have been responsible for many of the world’s richest ore deposits, like the copper ores mined on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, many economic geologists have suggested that active vents — not just the sites of former ones — be mined for their massive metallic deposits, although their remote locations might make that difficult. ”
They seem so excited I hate to scoop the “Steering Committee of the Census of Marine Life Vents and Seeps project ChEss (Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Science)”, but when they finally do their chemical analyses, they will discover, to their surprise that the smokers, the sea in the vicinity and the ocean floor sediments are loaded with copper, zinc, gold, and a couple of dozen other metals – renewable resources that we should advise the “limits-to-growth” bunch about.
Hmm, 1000 meters. Isn’t that the depth of wellhead for the BP well? I wonder if the output of the black smoker could be captured and methane, heavy metals, etc be
recovered.
And that bit about geologic methane is very interesting indeed.
Ric Werme says:
October 10, 2010 at 9:25 am
Ric, you are a visionary. I believe these “renewables” will be captured in future and you have just pointed to the type of technology that is likely to work – pump the black metallic smoke and methane to a surface tanker – filter, capture gas in a cupola above the water level in the tank and flow out the “cleaned” seawater back into the sea.
This post reminds me of the discovery of the hydrothermal vents recently discovered near Antarctica.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303114012.htm
As well as the discovery of an active volcano on the on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080120160720.htm
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/AntarcticVolcanoes2.jpg
Looking at the video of the first vent, it seems to me that stuff is spewing out from it at the same rate as the oil was coming out of the Deep Horizon well. And that’s just one vent.
My bet is that these vents are all around the boundaries of tectonic plates. Taken together, these would have a significant effect on the heat budget of the planet, probably more than all the volcanoes that have erupted.
I’m sure I saw another video of one of these and there were methane clathrate mounds all around it. I wonder if they have cycles where there is more and less stuff coming out of them.
Heh, just when you think you know something, along comes Nature and slaps you in the back of the head.
I have been fascinated by these “black smokers” and other oceanic thermal sources, for a very long time now. Comes with the professional territory, I guess. I think the most telling word in this press release is “assumed”. Way, way to much assuming and way, way to little empirical data. Come to think of it, that is the crux of the whole AGW thing, isn’t it. I also wonder how this revised assumption will play out in looking for the famous, “missing heat”?
I think that the geothermal heat from volcanic activity could have been larger in the past than it is today, perhaps we need a flood basalt eruption today to get us out of this cycle of ice ages we are going through,melt the ice in antarctica and get the oceans boiling ,if this is what they do when they erupt.
Thanks for an interesting article.
Mike,
1) ocean heat has been dropping
2) you are right that whatever heating has been added by these vents, underwater volcanoes, and lesser geothermal activity, it has been there all along and NOT represented in the Climate models. To put this forcing into the models means other forcings have to be REDUCED, like, let me see, maybe CO2!!!!
3) yes the heat flow from the ocean HAS CHANGED. We simply have not quantifed when and by how much as we were not measuring it! This MAY explain SOME of the variability of the ocean and atmospheric heat content that we do not understand.
Here is an article that clearly shows the magnitude of the heating in the eastern pacific. There is absolutely no reason to believe this type of system is unique to this area:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173830.htm
This is the base board heater of the eastern pacific. If you read the research you find that they instrumented a large area of these vents and actually recorded earthquakes that closed many of them around 2007. This vent system opens and closes due to volcanism and other geologic activity changing the amount of heat being literally pumped into the Pacific.
Another proof that Climate Models simply do NOT include all the necessary items to function reasonably.
The mini-revolution predicted by 2010 I guess didn’t happen but maybe it’s just starting late.
Anyhow, there’s an estimate of the energy they produce in watts. The earth’s surface is approximately 500,000,000 sq km. So the typical hydrothermal vent of 500 megawatts contributes about 1 microwatt per square meter to the energy budget. The megaplume would be 200 microwatts.
I suppose enough of them could make a difference. Five thousand megaplumes or one million typical plumes would add one watt to the energy budget – less than 1% but bordering on significant.
There’s a problem however. Geothermal heat (heat of formation and radioactive decay) is about 80 milliwatts per square meter. The heat from these plumes and vents if they added up to 1 watt/m2 would mean the interior of the earth is cooling ten times faster than presumed. If that was the case it seems the earth would not have a molten core at this late date.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1212_051212_megaplume.html
Gary Pearse says:
October 10, 2010 at 9:48 am
Ric Werme says:
October 10, 2010 at 9:25 am
Ric, you are a visionary. I believe these “renewables” will be captured in future and you have just pointed to the type of technology that is likely to work – pump the black metallic smoke and methane to a surface tanker – filter, capture gas in a cupola above the water level in the tank and flow out the “cleaned” seawater back into the sea.
———-
Are you guys crazy? If you take a stream of the effluent and do anything with it then return it to the source, then you are the source of the pollution? Don’t you know anything about how the government enivronmental agencies work?
I’d wager a fair amount of mercury being emitted by these types of sources. I had a prof who had a hunch that humans weren’t responsible for the level of mercury in sea water. Back in the late sixties… He had sent off for samples of preserved sea life from various museums (ostensibly, to confirm that concentrations were going up). He found high levels in the few samples he was given, as high as modern levels. But, when people found out what his thesis really was, they stopped providing him with samples.
pat says:
October 10, 2010 at 9:30 am
And that bit about geologic methane is very interesting indeed.
Glad you have noticed it, too. NB.
Dave Springer says:
October 10, 2010 at 10:43 am
Does “radioactive decay” include the energy of nuclear fission that must have been going on in the core for billions of years, before the U-235 abundance got to as low as it is now and natural fission all but stopped?