Image of the Month: November 2021
Redfish on IceAGE hydrothermal system discovered off Iceland in 2020
When the stern crane of the research vessel SONNE slowly lowers the deep-sea diving robot ROV KIEL 6000 into the water of the North Atlantic on 12 July 2020, not only the scientists on board are excited. Many on land are also following the dive via live stream on the internet, which is part of expedition SO276 in search of hot vents on the seabed of the Reykjanes Ridge southwest of Iceland. The ROV has now been in the water for two hours, hovering over the seabed at a depth of around 650 metres. Suddenly, bizarrely shaped rocks appear in the spotlight, with vents up to 1.5 metres high rising from them. In fact, the ROV finds a previously unknown so-called hydrothermal system. The new discovery confirms that even in relatively well-studied regions like the North Atlantic, far too little is known about the seafloor, but the hydrothermal field, which has been named "IceAGE-Vent-Field", has already left a permanent mark on seafloor maps of the North Atlantic.
Photo: ROV KIEL 6000 / GEOMAR
