GIS/Research assistant
> Christopher G. Fox
Chief Scientist of Our Cruise
> Steve Hammond
Marine geophysicist
> Jon Kaye
Microbiologist
> Russell McDuff
Geochemist
> Lauren Mullineaux
Benthic ecologist
> Veronique Robigou
Geologist
> Cindy Lee Van Dover
Biologist and former Pilot
> Dana Yoerger
Head of Navigation
Geochemist
Associate professor and associate director
School of Oceanography, University of Washington
Photo courtesy of Russell McDuff
What are your responsibilities as a geochemist on our cruise?
This is not a simple question to answer, because while my training is in geochemistry and much of my research involves geochemical questions, I spend most of my time on cruises doing other work: making sure underwater navigation is properly calibrated, managing information handling, preparing instruments for deployment and manipulating data they recover, and only occasionally now doing chemical analyses. I'm particularly interested right now in the measurement of fluxes of heat and chemicals from hydrothermal vents. We've been using two approaches. One is to instrument vent systems to measure the velocity and temperature of the flow. But because the fluids are hot and corrosive this requires development of novel approaches. We use time lapse video and an image processing technique called image correlation velocimetry to measure flow and arrays of thermocouples to measure temperature. The other approach is to make make measurements of the fluid velocity and flow on a surface in the water column which encloses the vents. This involves "mowing the lawn" with a remotely operated vehicle, following a course back and forth that yields data for as many points on the surface as possible. We've just been funded to do these kinds of measurements in a much more comprehensive way with a autonomous vehicle.
How did you prepare for this job?
I was "in school" until age 29. I studied chemistry at Caltech where I received my B.S. There I worked in a research group studying the fates of metals in sewage effluent discharged into the oceans. I attended Scripps Institution of Oceanography for graduate school, a department within the University of California at San Diego, where I received my Ph.D, followed by three years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Fellow. I then started my present job on the faculty at the University of Washington.
"One of the most important changes coming in the ocean sciences is the merging of scientific visualization and modelling tools with the rapid access to data--both historical and real-time--afforded by the Internet. Arrays of sensors will provide new opportunities for gathering synoptic observations and long time series. This will particularly transform the understanding of ridge processes. Here space has served as a coarse time clock (through the connection of crustal age to seafloor spreading). We'll now be able to view the system in the time domain directly."
--- Russell McDuff
--
<-- Go back to the previous page
--
<-- Go back to the main Meet the Scientists page
--
<-- Go back to the Welcome Aboard! page
| Dive Briefing | Research Tools | Meet the Scientists! | Fauna | Geology |
| Significance | Ethics | Unsolved Mysteries | InterActivities | Forum |
| Glossary | Acknowledgements & Sources |
| E-mail us! |