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Volcanoes of the Deep
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Program Overview
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NOVA follows a team of scientists as
they journey to the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Pacific Ocean to study and raise hydrothermal
vent structures from the ocean floor.
The program:
shows how JASON—a small robot
with video cameras, sonar imaging tools
and lights—collects data about the smokers. Engineers use three-dimensional images generated from the data to design equipment that will capture, cut and haul four of the structures.
reviews the process by which "black smoker chimneys"—chimneylike
structures around hydrothermal vents—form.
explains how biologists study organisms that live on and near the smokers, and speculates about clues the organisms might hold regarding how life originated on Earth.
details the recovery plan and successful raising of the four chimneys to the
surface.
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