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East Pacific Rise — Current Experiment Coordination — Request [ISS]

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The message below was sent to all EPR ISS Investigators and coPIs involved in 2006-2007 field Experiments from site co-ordinator, Dan Fornari on November 7, 2006

Urgent Request for information regarding planned EPR ISS sampling requirements, experiment deployments, and other technical issues

Dear Colleagues:

My apologies for this urgent request for information, but it is clear based on feedback from investigators currently diving with Alvin at the EPR ISS (Mullineaux et al.) that there needs to be a compilation of planned experiments, sampling needs and technical information in order to ensure that everyones research goals are met to the best of our abilities and that coordination between experiments at the site occurs.

This information is essential to ensure that a suite of biological and physical experiments which require undisturbed environmental conditions can occur while also accommodating other needs for sampling, manipulation, and deployment of sensors/experiments. The outcome could impact your planned work, and quick response is essential so that your experiment needs can be factored into the deployment plans of the scientists currently at the EPR site. If you cant reply immediately, please let me know you have gotten the message and plan to reply in the next day or maximum two. The feedback that results from this effort will be compiled openly via the Ridge2000 web site and recommendations will be sent out to the group on Atlantis/Alvin to factor into their deployment plans (which are ongoing), and sent to each of you.

First - let me lay out some important points for you all to consider.

1. The Mullineaux group currently diving with Alvin at the EPR ISS is deploying short-term and long-term moorings, colonization experiments, and doing an excellent job of exploring and cataloging areas of potential interest especially following the 2005-2006 EPR eruptions that have dramatically changed the character of the seafloor between 9 48-52N. Because of the evolving, post-eruption nature of the hydrothermal sites and biological colonization in this area, I, and others, realize that ultimately the plans you have today will need to adapt to the specific circumstances that you encounter when you do your field work. So it is understood that the coordination plan we arrive at has to be flexible and reasonable to provide all PIs with an opportunity to conduct their work, no matter when, during the 2006-2007 field season, they are scheduled to do their work.
2. The list of information topics appended below was compiled with some input from a few investigators to help guide me. If you feel that there is a key type of information that I have missed, please let me know and include it in your summary as an example so that I can request it from other PIs.
3. The input you provide will help formulate an overall operational strategy for experiments for all PIs to implement, both short- and long-term (months to years), for the EPR ISS as well as provide input to the Mullineaux group as they plan for deployment of their experiments.
4. I am here to coordinate this dialog and effort - not direct it. So - please understand this request in that context. Because of the large number of PIs and the complex nature of all your experiments and the need to communicate these in some reasonable detail to everyone on a timely basis, an element of coordination is needed. As the EPR ISS Coordinator, I have been asked to take this on, hence this message.

Because Lauren et al. will be diving for the next 2 weeks, providing your input now and integrating it into a plan is critical in the near term (i.e., within the next week or less).

I realize that you are all busy and involved in the daily onslaught of teaching and research requests, but, taking the time today to outline your specific plans, needs, and approaches, as well as a summary of the technical issues pertaining to your field experiments will ensure that your specific needs are considered in the overall plan.

Bottom line - please take the time to reply - today if possible.

Thanks.

Below is the list of key information that we require for all PIs and coPIs (including ancillary experiments). We have sent this message to all the known/listed investigators but if you know of someone who has not seen this message but whos research could be impacted, please forward it to them and let me know so I can add them to the list.

Your responses, even if they are only lists of key information are better than nothing.

Please insert your replies into the MS Word document attached to this email that contains the list of questions, and name it with your last name (e.g., fornari-EPR-ISS.doc)

Email the completed document back back to me at the address below, AND cc it to the Ridge2000 office at: . Again, these will be posted at the EPR ISS R2K site and the compilation/matrix that is derived from your and others input will be posted there as well.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions regarding this request, dont hesitate to email (dfornari@whoi.edu) or call: 508-289-2857.

Best Regards,
Dan