Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Science Team

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The Science Party

The science party consists of 17 researchers from 11 institutions located in 5 different countries (US, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and England). Jason operations team includes 10 people and Sentry operations team includes 5 people responsible for piloting, electrical and mechanical engineering, and data processing for both vehicles. The Revelle research technical staff includes 2 people and the Oregon State University coring facility is represented by 1 person. The Revelle crew contains 22 people. In total, the ship will house nearly 50 people for this 27 day cruise.

RJC_HeadshotRebecca Carey

Senior Lecturer, U Tasmania
I am a volcanologist interested in the magma ascent, eruption and particle transport dynamics of volcanic eruptions. My research includes field and microanalytical approaches to unravel the behavior of subaerial and submarine eruptions. I am excited to be involved in a project that studies the volcanic architecture and products of the 2012 Havre eruption. The 2012 eruption deposit on the seafloor holds clues to the dynamics of submarine eruptions, and our combined ROV and AUV approach will likely supply the data and samples to tackle fundamental questions of eruption processes on the seafloor. Given that the eruption was only 2.5 years ago, I’m also expecting to see active hydrothermal vents on the seafloor (and the critters that live there!).

soule2Adam Soule

Associate Scientist, WHOI
My research focuses on the physical processes of magma storage, transport, eruption and deposition using near-field remote sensing, textural analysis of volcanic products, geochemistry, and numerical methods. On this cruise, I will conduct seafloor mapping with the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, which will collect multibeam bathymetry, sidescan sonar, digital photographs. The relative youth of the Havre 2012 eruption provides an unique opportunity to evaluate the dispersal and deposition of eruptive products as they should stand out as exceptionally fresh (i.e., unsedimented) relative to older material. I will be serving as Co-chief scientist for the cruise.

mangaMichael Manga

Professor, UC Berkeley
I am interested in how momentum and energy exchange between fragmented magma and water govern large scale eruption processes. This includes how pressure affects fragmentation and the mixing of fragments and water, and how pumice that reaches the ocean surface becomes saturated with water and sinks. Post-cruise I will perform three-dimensional imaging of pyroclasts using XRay microtomography to characterize the textures of erupted magmas and will do laboratory experiments to help elucidate the processes that allow pumice to ingest water. Overcoming mal de mer will be the first hurdle.

fornariDan Fornari

Senior Scientist, WHOI
My research focuses on volcanic and hydrothermal processes and mapping at mid-ocean ridges, and studies the structure and magmatic processes at oceanic transforms and oceanic islands, such as Hawaii and the Galápagos. I have participated in over 70 research cruises in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and completed over 100 dives in Alvin and other Navy submersibles. On this cruise, I am interested in understanding the transport of pyroclastic material and what can be learned from high-resolution seafloor imaging.

WhiteJames White

Associate Professor, U Otago
I am an Associate Professor in the Geology Department at the University of Otago and also serve as an Editor for the Bulletin of Volcanology. My research focuses on magma-water interaction of all types including subaqueous eruptions, subglacial eruptions, maar-diatreme volcanism, and peperite. I have also studied transport and deposition of particles from submarine, sublacustrine and subglacial eruptions, and laharic and alluvial sedimentation of remobilized particles. In 1995 I participated in an Alvin cruise to Seamount Six led by Rodey Batiza, and in 2006 Pisces dives onto Loihi led by Bruce Houghton. Related experimental work has included tank experiments on hot particulate density currents, non-explosive mingling and/or granulation of molten basalt with water and sediment, and lab and field-scale explosion experiments to examine maar-diatreme processes.

jocelyn_picJocelyn McPhie

Adjunct Professor, U Tasmania
My research interest is volcanology in general and submarine volcanology in particular. The cruise offers a rare opportunity to “see” just-erupted submarine pyroclastic deposits in a largely undisturbed original context. I have worked on many old uplifted volcanic successions full of pyroclastic facies and have inevitably struggled to answer simple questions about the eruptions that produced them. I look forward to the cruise generating benchmark papers in which submarine pyroclastic deposit characteristics are linked with confidence to eruption styles and emplacement processes.

TaniKenichiro (Ken) Tani

Curator, National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan
One of my major research interests is to understand geologic development of the submarine silicic volcanoes in intra-oceanic arcs. Since 2002, I have been involved in more than 20 research cruises to study various submarine volcanoes in Izu-Bonin-Mariana and Tonga-Kermadec Arcs utilizing Japanese manned-submersible and ROVs. I am excited to join the MESH cruise to learn what has happened during the 2012 eruption of the Havre Volcano and what is going on down there now.

fabioFabio Caratori-Tontini

Marine Geophysicist, GNS Science
Fabio Caratori Tontini is a marine geophysicist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Science) in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He received a Ph.D in physics from University of Pisa (Italy) in 2003 and joined GNS Science in 2009 after 6 years as research scientist at italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). His research is focused on the geophysical expression of submarine hydrothermal systems. During this cruise his main responsibility will be the analysis of Sentry magnetic data.

Martin_photoMartin Jutzeler

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, NOC Southampton
I am a post-doctoral research fellow at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, in the UK. My main research interests include eruption and sedimentation of pyroclasts during submarine eruptions, and entrance of pyroclastic flows into the sea. Working on both uplifted successions and IODP cores, my recent research focuses on characterizing products of submarine eruptions, how pyroclasts are transported, and how pumice clasts are dispersed and abraded during rafting at the surface of the ocean.

JonesMeghan Jones

Graduate student, MIT/WHOI
I am currently pursuing a PhD in Geology and Geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT/WHOI) Joint Program in Oceanography. My research focuses on  the dynamics of magma storage, transport, and eruption through investigations degassing and vesiculation and seafloor mapping. I am excited to extend these studies to Havre Volcano during the upcoming expedition where I will focus on processing and analyzing seafloor bathymetry, sidescan sonar backscatter, and imagery.

RCCahalan1Ryan Cahalan

Graduate Student, Georgia Tech
I am current pursuing a PhD at Georgia Tech. The goal of my research is to characterize and quantify the dynamics of submarine, silicic explosive eruptions. To gain insight into these systems I am developing a multiphase fluid dynamics model, and tank experiments to simulate the dynamics and thermal evolution during transport and deposition of eruption materials. I will use the data and samples collected on this expedition to fine tune the existing dynamical model and extract information on the spatiotemporal and thermal evolution of the eruption.

ConwayChris Conway

Graduate Student, Victoria University of Wellington
My MSc study took me to the Southern Ocean for three weeks on-board the RV Tangaroa to undertake multibeam mapping and sampling of Macquarie Ridge seamounts. I am currently nearing completion of my PhD research on the eruptive history and magmatic evolution of Mount Ruapehu, with a particular emphasis on studying processes of lava-ice interaction. I am looking forward to seeing the ROV in action during the upcoming voyage, and using the time between watches to work on my (non-existent) ukulele and keyboard skills.

FauriaKristen Fauria

Graduate Student, UC Berkeley
I am currently pursuing a PhD in the Earth and Planetary Science Department at UC Berkeley. I’m excited to be a part of the cruise, explore the 2012 eruption deposits with Jason and Sentry, and investigate the mechanics of submarine eruptions. After the cruise, I’ll run lab experiments on Havre samples to understand why some pumice float while others sink.

MurchArran Murch

Graduate Student, U Otago
I graduated with a 1st class MGeol Degree from Plymouth University (UK) in 2014 with a Masters project examining the eruptive mechanisms associated with different styles of explosive activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. I am currently undertaking a PhD at University of Otago (NZ) investigating submarine pumice forming eruptions.

FumihikoFumihiko Ikegami

Graduate Student, U Tasmania
I am currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Tasmania. I have previously studied the Quaternary submarine calderas in the southwestern part of Japan. This cruise will provide me with the first opportunity to see the fresh eruptive features originated with a large silicic submarine eruption, which I could not see in my previous research. I am excited about it!

MitchellSam Mitchell

Graduate student, SOEST U Hawaii
I am currently an MS Geology student at the University of Bristol and will be starting my PhD in Volcanology research at the University of Hawaii this coming Fall. During the MESH expedition, I am hoping to gain a better understanding of how hydrostatic pressure suppresses explosive eruption dynamics from analyzing the proximal and distal tephra deposits. As this is my very first research cruise, I am looking forward to getting involved and working with the rest of the team, processing my first ever submarine samples and hopefully shedding some light on the mysteries of this huge underwater volcanic eruption!

 

 

WarrenMCWarren McKenzie

Undergraduate student, SOEST U Hawaii
I am a geology and geophysics undergraduate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and linguistics alumni from the University of Texas at Austin. I have had a lifelong interest in geology, and particularly silicic eruptions. I grew up in Washington state in proximity to Mt. Baker, Rainier, and St. Helens volcanoes and had  fantastic geology right at my doorstep. My wife and I moved to Honolulu to continue our education as well as get a chance to study geology in a dynamic setting. As an undergraduate on this cruise I’m hoping to expand my field experience to submarine eruptions.