Image

Just a Sip

The slender snorkel of an Isobaric Gas-Tight sampler (IGT) draws a sample of hydrothermal fluids spewing out of a hydrothermal vent chimney as the mechanical arm of remotely operated vehicle Jason holds it steady. IGTs and Jason will soon be working together at a vent field on the East Pacific Rise, on a cruise led by microbiologist Stefan Sievert and marine chemist Jeff Seewald, who helped design the IGT. They will be sampling the fluids that flow diffusely out of the seafloor near vent chimneys. Diffuse flow is where most microbial chemosynthesis occurs in vent ecosystems.(Photo by Chris German and the Jason Group, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)