Measurements of Diffuse Hydrothermal Flow
Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge

From 2000–2003, the Thermal Grid project used MAVS3 acoustic current meters located about 0.5 m above the seafloor, equipped with one-meter-long thermistor strings, to collect multiday time series of near-bottom temperature, vertical temperature gradient, three-component velocity, and turbulent heat flux at diverse sites within the axial valley of the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge spreading center in the northeast Pacific.

In the figures, velocity is represented by horizontal flow speed/direction along with vertical component of velocity, the latter typically associated with flow next to a sloping seafloor. Heat flux is calculated via direct correlation, using ~ 2 Hz vertical velocity and temperature data, averaged over 17 minute ensembles.

Click on the map below to access figures and data from each deployment.

If you use the figures or data, please cite:

• Hautala, S., H. P. Johnson, M. Pruis, I. Garcia-Berdeal, T. Bjorklund (2012).  Low-temperature hydrothermal plumes in the near-bottom boundary layer at Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge.  Oceanography 25: 192-195

and for individual results as appropriate from:

• García-Berdeal, I. (2006). Hydrography and flow in the axial valley of the Endeavour Segment: Implications for larval dispersal. PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.


• Garcia Berdeal, I., S. L. Hautala, Leif N. Thomas and H. P. Johnson (2006). Vertical structure of time-dependent currents in a mid-ocean ridge axial valley. Deep-Sea Res. 53: 367-386.


• Pruis, M.J. (2004). Energy and volume flux into the deep ocean: Examining diffuse hydrothermal systems. PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.


• Johnson, H. P., S. L. Hautala, M. A. Tivey, C. D. Jones, J. Voight, M. Pruis, I. Garcia-Berdeal, L. A. Gilbert, T. Bjorklund, W. Fredericks, J. Howland and the Thermal Grid Scientific Party (2002). A systematic examination of hydrothermal circulation: Endeavour Segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 83: 73 and 78. 

Funding was provided by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants OCE-9911523 and OCE-0085615 and the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund (RRF).