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Ring of fire

Research specialist Don Koelsch makes final electronic checks on the Near Ocean Bottom Explosives Launcher (NOBEL) on the fantail of the R/V Atlantis II  in 1996. Developed at WHOI, NOBEL was the first and only equipment system to successfully deploy and detonate multiple high-explosive charges (48 in all) at full ocean depths. During experiments along the East Pacific Rise, the energy generated by the near-bottom explosions was received by an array of seismometers, allowing geologists to make high-resolution observations of Earth’s crustal structure. (Photo by James Broda, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)