INTRODUCTION

 

MoMAR is a multidisciplinary initiative aiming to investigate the volcanic, hydrothermal and biological processes near the Azores islands in the Atlantic.

 

(Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field - image from www.esonet-noe.org)

 

A link to the project website is found HERE.

 

ESONET and MoMAR

 

The MoMAR project was initiated as part of the international InterRidge Program. The overall aim of the MoMAR project is to promote long-term multidisciplinary monitoring of hydrothermal environments at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Azores to provide answers to the following main scientific questions:-

 

1. What are the feed-backs between volcanism, deformation, seismicity, and the hydrothermalism at mid-ocean ridges?

 

2. How does the hydrothermal ecosystem couple with these processes?

 

3. What are the mass, energy and biological fluxes from the solid Earth to the Ocean at hydrothermal vent fields?

 

As part of ESONET, the MoMAR initiative will deploy two SEAMON nodes in the Lucky Strike hydrothermal field. These two nodes will be linked acoustically to a surface buoy which will ensure satellite communication with a land-based station. This deployment will be in place for 1 month and will help develop the technological understanding required to in the future place permanent cabled observatories at such active deep sea locations.

 

For this initial MoMAR-D demonstration mission deployment sensors will investigate the dynamics of the geosphere, its impacts on hydrothermal field properties and the associated fauna of the Lucky Strike vent field.

(MoMAR satellite communications buoy)