The New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire 2007 (NZASRoF '07) expedition will take us to Brothers submarine volcano, a site of vigorous geothermal activity north of New Zealand along the Kermadec Arc. We will explore Brothers Volcano in great detail using the state-of-the-art autonomous benthic explorer (ABE). This expedition will mark the most comprehensive exploration of this type of submarine volcano to date. We will also be exploring some newly mapped deep rifts southwest of Brothers. The research vessel (R V) Sonne will carry a team of 26 scientists and engineers from New Zealand, Germany, and the U.S. to conduct these explorations. In addition, a new remotely operated vehicle (ROV) will be used for sea-floor explorations during the latter part of the expedition, if successfully tested by our German partners. |