Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

SU scientist explores deep sea on legendary research vessel E/V Nautilus

Monday, October 10, 2011, By News Staff
Share
College of Arts and SciencesResearch and Creative

Expedition leaders include Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic and JFK’s PT-109

BallardA Syracuse University scientist, an alumna and an undergraduate student are exploring the deep-sea floor off the coast of Portugal this week aboard the E/V Nautilus, a 64-meter research vessel operated by Ocean Exploration Trust in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Geographic Society.

Jeffrey Karson, the Jessie Page Heroy Professor and chair of the Department of Earth Sciences in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, is the chief scientist on board the vessel from Oct. 8 to 19. Aleece Nanfito G’11 is working on the ship as a data logger and Darcy Joyce, a junior earth sciences major, will work on a project based on the discoveries that are made during the voyage.

Their voyage is part of the New Frontiers in Ocean Exploration 2011 expedition, led by Robert Ballard, explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society and president of the Institute for Exploration; and Katherine Croff Bell, vice president and chief scientist, E/V Nautilus Exploration Program, Ocean Exploration Trust.

The expedition is sponsored by NOAA, the Institute for Exploration, Ocean Exploration Trust and the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Ocean Exploration.

The Nautilus is equipped with remote controlled vehicles (Hercules, Argus, Diana and Echo) that can descend to depths up to 4,000 meters (2.5 miles). The vehicles, which are operated by Ballard’s Institute for Exploration, house an array of cameras and acoustic sensors that are used to gather video and other data during each dive. Members of the public can watch the dives and listen to researchers’ comments in real time via the Nautilus Live website (www.nautiluslive.org), which transmits live video and other data from the expedition 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

While Karson is on board, members of the SU community can watch the Nautilus researchers at work on a large screen set up at the Exploration Control and Command Center in Heroy Geology Laboratory, Room 115. Additionally, Karson will be available to answer questions about the exploration via email or the Nautilus Live website while he is on board. Karson is a member of the NOAA Nautilus advisory board.

The Oct. 8 to 19 leg of the voyage will focus on the Gorringe Bank, a series of submarine mountains formed as a result of two tectonic plates sliding into and past each other along the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. The Bank includes two significant mountain peaks—the Gettysburg (located 20 meters below sea level) and the Ormond (located 33 meters below sea level). The research team will be searching for hydrothermal vents (underwater hot springs) similar to those found in the Lost City hydrothermal field in the mid-Atlantic 11 years ago. The team will also be investigating unusual life forms and exploring shipwrecks and other ancient artifacts that might be resting on the sea floor.

Karson was part of the National Science Foundation funded research effort that led to the discovery and follow-up investigations of the Lost City site. The hydrothermal vents at the Lost City are unique from other deep-ocean hot springs in that the heat that drives the circulation of fluid in the rocks is caused by a chemical reaction between the seawater and magnesium-rich rocks found in the Earth’s mantle, called serpentinization. The vents also have distinctive fluid chemistry, vent structures, and ecosystems.

The 2011 New Frontiers in Ocean Exploration expedition will continue through November to the Straits of Sicily to explore the Aeolian Arc volcanoes and conclude with an exploration of submarine canyons along the Israeli continental shelf.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • 4 Maxwell Professors Named O’Hanley Faculty Scholars
    Monday, July 14, 2025, By News Staff
  • Message From Chief Student Experience Officer Allen W. Groves
    Monday, July 14, 2025, By News Staff
  • Haowei Wang Named Maxwell School Scholar in U.S.-China/Asia Relations
    Monday, July 14, 2025, By News Staff
  • LaunchPad Awards Student Start-Up Fund Grant
    Saturday, July 12, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Former Orange Point Guard and Maxwell Alumna ‘Roxi’ Nurse McNabb Still Driving for an Assist
    Tuesday, July 8, 2025, By Jessica Smith

More In STEM

6 A&S Physicists Awarded Breakthrough Prize

Our universe is dominated by matter and contains hardly any antimatter, a notion which still perplexes top scientists researching at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The Big Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, but now nearly everything—solid, liquid, gas or plasma—is…

Setting the Standard and Ensuring Justice

Everyone knows DNA plays a crucial role in solving crimes—but what happens when the evidence is of low quantity, degraded or comes from multiple individuals? One of the major challenges for forensic laboratories is interpreting this type of DNA data…

Student Innovations Shine at 2025 Invent@SU Presentations

Eight teams of engineering students presented designs for original devices to industry experts and investors at Invent@SU Final Presentations. This six-week summer program allows students to design, prototype and pitch their inventions to judges. During the program, students learn about…

WiSE Hosts the 2025 Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Undergraduate Research Prize Award Ceremony

This spring, Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) held its annual Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Award Ceremony. WiSE was honored to host distinguished guest speaker Joan-Emma Shea, who presented “Self-Assembly of the Tau Protein: Computational Insights Into Neurodegeneration.” Shea…

Endowed Professorship Recognizes Impact of a Professor, Mentor and Advisor

Bao-Ding “Bob” Cheng’s journey to Syracuse University in pursuit of graduate education in the 1960s was long and arduous. He didn’t have the means for air travel, so he voyaged more than 5,000 nautical miles by boat from his home…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.