Deepsea Oasis

Anemones and shrimp cluster around a hydrothermal vent on the Caribbean seafloor on an expedition in 2012. A team led by WHOI geochemist Chris German explored the deepest known hydrothermal vent site in the world named after Auguste Piccard, a Swiss explorer who invented the bathyscaphe, a free-diving deepsea submersible. The Piccard field is about 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) below the  surface and home to vents that gush fluids reaching 400^°C (750^°F). The remotely operated vehicle Jason captured this image and gathered samples to study the geology, geochemistry, and biology along an underwater mountain chain known as the Mid-Cayman Rise.(Photo by Chris German and the Jason Group, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)