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Preparing for HADES

In 2014 two expeditions organized by WHOI biologist Tim Shank‘s played a starring role in the HADES (Hadal Ecosystem Studies) project, a collaborative research program investigating the role that environmental factors at great depths play in shaping life and ecosystems of the hadal zone, 3.7-8.8 miles (6-11 kkilometers) beneath the surface. In May, biologists Shank (left) and Alan Jamieson (University of Aberdeen) assembled a fish trap aboard R/V Thompson en route to explore the Kermedec Trench off New Zealand. In December, aboard R/V Falkor, they investigated the ocean’s deepest place, the Mariana Trench. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)