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Partners in Science

January 16, 2014

Marine chemist Jeff Seewald (left) and microbiologist Stefan Sievert adjust an isobaric gas-tight sampler (IGT) they are using during their Dive & Discover cruise to hydrothermal vents along the East Pacific Rise. Sievert, who is Chief Scientist on the cruise, Seewald, and their colleagues are using the remotely operated vehicle Jason and IGTs to collect samples of fluid flowing out of the seafloor near the vent chimneys. They will later analyze its chemical makeup and study how microbes extract energy from some of the chemicals in the fluid through the process of chemosynthesis.(Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)