Tuesday 1st February
Today's contributor: Jon Copley
After completing our work at Three Sisters, we've now moved further along the Bransfield Strait, to another volcanic outcrop on the seafloor. This is terra incognita (or mare incognitum): we don't have a detailed map of the seafloor here, and no-one has previously surveyed for deep-sea vents here either.
Once more unto the winch, dear friends, once more...
We have therefore spent the day mapping the seafloor with the ship's multibeam sonar system, and deploying the CTD probe to look for signs of vents. But although we're within sight of Deception Island, which is volcanically active, we've not found any signs of vents on the seafloor here. So, after collecting some sediment cores that may contain records of past activity, we'll be heading back to Hook Ridge, via the Orca Crater where an iceberg blocked us from surveying earlier.