SID Goes to the Seafloor

Bosun Patrick Hennesey (left) and Ordinary Seaman Clindor Chacho begin to lower an instrument called Vent-SID on a cable to the seafloor from the research vessel Atlantis. WHOI microbiologists Craig Taylor and Stefan Sievert and a team of WHOI engineers designed and built Vent-SID (Submersible Incubation Device). It collects fluids from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor into incubation chambers in which scientists can measure the types and rates of biochemical reactions performed by vent microbes. In a recently published study, a research team led by Sievert showed that vent microbes are surprisingly productive and play an important role supporting life higher up the food chain. (Photo by Jennifer Barone ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)