The Secret Life of Deep Sea Vents

More than 6,000 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, some 1,400 miles east of Puerto Rico, a remotely operated vehicle skimmed the seafloor, filming a rocky scene almost devoid of life. Perhaps the trail has run cold, thought Julie Huber, an oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as she watched a video feed from land. Her colleagues did the same from a research vessel named Falkor (Too), floating above the ROV.

Then the vehicle’s controllers steered it up a slope. A few squat lobsters scuttled past, seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere. Patches of pale anemones drifted by—another hopeful sign. “And then, bam! We could see this smoke off in the distance,” Huber says. As the ROV inched closer to the crest, rose into view, releasing torrents of black, smoky water. The oceanographers, geologists, and biologists aboard Falkor (Too) cheered: This marked the first discovery in 40 years of an active field on this vast section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.