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Mission Overview

Join us for mission 16, as we take an adventure to one of the world’s strangest underwater volcanoes.

You will be a part of our 20-day expedition as we venture into Brothers volcano, an underwater caldera that is part of the Kermadec volcanic arc system off the Northern coast of New Zealand. This is the most hydrothermally active undersea volcano system on Earth and it harbors some of the most extreme environments on earth.

At Brothers volcano, we will be studying how an undersea volcano releases heat, chemicals, and metals into the ocean and how they affect the life around it. The plan is to study the geology, biology, chemistry, and geophysics of this volcanic system using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason. Jason and its partner vehicle Medea will carry several high-definition cameras, including one ultra-high-definition (4K) camera, plus an array of sensors and samplers up close to the rim and down onto the floor of the caldera.