Caribbean Sea

Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have begun a fieldwork campaign in Belizean coastal waters that will enhance understanding of the sensitivities of these fragile environments to the impacts of both human activities and climate change.

The first discovery of a new type of hydrothermal vent system in a decade helps explain the long observed disconnect between the theoretical rate at which the Earth’s crust is cooling at seafloor spreading ridge flanks, and actual observations. It could also help scientists interpret the evidence for past global climates more accurately.

Helping assess volcanic hazards is the next task for National Oceanography Centre scientists working in the Caribbean Sea.

We have just left the waters of Martinique at the start of our two day transit to our final port of Curacao - and so ends our six week sojourn in the sunny Caribbean.

We are now approaching the last week of the expedition and this time next week we will (hopefully!) be relaxing in the hotel bar in Curacao.

There are a total of about 120 people on board the Joides Resolution, with scientists making up about a quarter of the crew. The scientific party is divided into two shifts – one half from midnight to midday, and the other covering the day shift – that are essentially mirror images of each other.

We are now at the halfway point in the cruise and focused on the drill sites off of Martinique. However, Montserrat is still very much on our minds.

The second weekly update from IODP leg 340.

At about 5 o’clock this morning (local time) we finished drilling the final site around Montserrat and are preparing the ship for a 12 hour transit to our next site off the coast of Dominica.

Scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, NOC, are onboard the RV JOIDES Resolution as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, IODP. Expedition 340 will look at volcanism and landslides around the Lesser Antilles.

University of Southampton researchers based the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, with colleagues from Bristol and Penn State Universities, have produced the first image of the magma chamber (body of molten rock) beneath the active Soufrière Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean.