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Fancy meeting you here

Research vessel Atlantis, which is operated by WHOI, and R/V Thomas G. Thompson, which is operated by the University of Washington, became neighbors for a short time during the late summer of 2009. Both ships were visiting sites along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a tectonic spreading center off the coast of Washington state and British Columbia, where scientists were conducting studies of fluid circulation under the seafloor and the physiology of animals that live at hydrothermal vents. Ship schedulers try to avoid having more than one vessel at a site at one time, but if weather or maintenance issues delay a cruise, the ships may overlap, especially at scientifically productive sites being studied by multiple research teams. (Photo by Mark Spear, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)