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Science 15 May 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5366, pp. 1034 - 1035
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5366.1034
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Research Commentaries

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Research commentaries

GEOPHYSICS:
Enhanced: A New Spin on Hydrothermal Plumes

Kevin G. Speer

Mid-ocean ridges are locations underwater where magma rises to form new crust. Seawater that circulates near the magma is heated and emitted as a hydrothermal plume that rises from the sea floor. As Speer discusses in his research commentary, new results in the same issue by Lupton et al. offer the first direct look at the behavior of this rising plume. Using a combination of physical and chemical surveys, together with a drifting probe that could be submersed to a depth of 2 kilometers, Lupton et al. were able to map out the anticyclone pattern expected of a rising hydrothermal plume.

The author is in the Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, IFREMER/CNRS, 29280 Plouzane, France. E-mail: kevin.speer{at}ifremer.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)