Press Releases

SCIENTIST FROM WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE TO SPEAK AT WHALING MUSEUM

Lecture topic is 'Hot Rocks, Black Smokers and Life without Light: Exploring the Deep Ocean with Submersibles and Robots'


NEW BEDFORD, MA (11.04.09) - - If a smokin' hot time on the dark side intrigues you, don't miss the lecture to be presented at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Monday, November 16, 2009, at 7:00 p.m., in the Museum Theater.

Award-winning scientist Susan E. Humphris, Ph.D., Acting Vice President of Marine Facilities/OPS, Directorate, Senior Scientist and Acting Vice President for Marine Facilities and Operations at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will take listeners on a journey deep into the ocean’s hydrothermal circulation process that is the focus of her scientific research. Admission to the lecture, co-presented by the Sippican Philosophical Society, the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Ocean Explorium, is free.

The talk, entitled "Hot Rocks, Black Smokers and Life without Light: Exploring the Deep Ocean with Submersibles and Robots," will focus on studies by Dr. Humphris of volcanic and tectonic controls on the distribution and characteristics of hydrothermal activity at mid-ocean ridges; the geochemistry of rock-water interactions; and the rate of the associated hydrothermal fluxes in global geochemical mass balances.

Dr. Humphris has spent more than three years at sea on various oceanographic research ships; has completed many dives in the submersible, Alvin; and has used the remotely-operated vehicle Jason and autonomous underwater vehicles for scientific work in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans. She is also the co-creator of the award-winning Dive and Discover website to bring oceanographic research expeditions in near real-time to students and the general public.

Ms. Humphris received her B.A./Hons. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Lancaster, U.K., in 1972, and her Ph.D. MIT/WHOI Joint Program, in 1977, in Chemical Oceanography.