The earthquake that rocked Alaska for close to five minutes on March 27, 1964, in U.S. history. It registered a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale and generated a tsunami that killed people as far south as California. The earthquake also changed the nature of the land surrounding its epicenter near Prince William Sound.

Now, researchers from the 91探花, led by , an assistant professor of oceanography at UW, the University of Rhode Island and the Desert Research Institute are traveling to Anchorage and the Copper River Delta to study marshes that formed in the years following the earthquake. Few geomorphologists have been to this region, and no one has compared the Alaskan marshes to those in more temperate regions. The ecological implications are significant for local wildlife and Alaskan communities.

Valentine has spearheaded similar interdisciplinary projects at the Willapa salt marsh in Washington with the goal of understanding how the ecosystem is adapting to climate change. In Alaska, she will co-lead a team of five early career researchers, and they will capture video and photos throughout their trip.

Valentine answered a few questions about her work for the occasional series 鈥�In the Field,鈥� which highlights 91探花field efforts.

Tell us about the trip. Where are you going and why?

Kendall Valentine: We are heading to two primary areas 鈥� Anchorage and the Copper River Delta 鈥� to investigate salt marsh morphodynamics, which is another way of saying landscape-scale changes. We want to understand what happens along the coast after large seismic events.

The 1964 Alaska earthquake lifted the mudflats upward by several meters, creating a suitable environment for marsh vegetation where there wasn鈥檛 one before. Marshes rapidly formed, and rough estimates indicate that one to three meters of marsh sediments have accumulated in these areas since. Our understanding of how marshes form and function is based on slow-moving landscapes on passive margins, or places that don鈥檛 experience earthquakes. Studying these sites in Alaska will allow us to re-envision marsh dynamics.

The Copper River Delta is also one of the largest deltas in North America, but it is grossly understudied. Deltas form when fast moving water, such as a river, meets a slower body of water, like the sea. Fresh water, saltwater and mud all mix, which creates a dynamic environment and unique habitats. And, as the mud settles, it traps carbon.

What do you and your team hope to learn?

KV: High-latitude wetlands like these are experiencing rapid changes as sea levels rise, permafrost thaws and seasonal ice cover shifts. Erosion rates are increasing, which will influence the landscape and rates of carbon sequestration. These wetlands are critical for wildlife, coastline protection, trapping pollutants, managing nutrient distribution and storing carbon, but there is a real dearth of information about their geomorphology and ecology. We are pioneering the study of seasonally thawed, tectonically active marshes. Researchers have reported a 鈥渟taggering lack of information鈥� on shorelines at high latitudes, despite their abundance. These often-remote sites are hard to access, working conditions can be harsh and there are few cities nearby. We will be taking an airboat to remote locations to collect core samples and analyze carbon storage, sediment accumulation rates and more.

We hypothesize that carbon storage in high-latitude Alaskan marshes is driven by tectonic history, and we will explore the local carbon dynamics and note how plant populations have changed and marsh geography has evolved. Changes to the marsh could threaten infrastructure, coastal communities and cultural traditions and cost the state billions of dollars in maintenance and repairs.

Who else is going?

KV: I am going with , a graduate student in at UW;, an assistant professor in oceanography at the University of Rhode Island; , a graduate student in her lab Erin Peck鈥檚 lab; and , a postdoctoral researcher at the Desert Research Institute. My portion of this project is funded by the Quaternary Research Center here at UW.

We will also venture out into the field with some local partners. Ryan Choi, a vegetation and wetland ecologist in the at the University of Alaska Anchorage听 will join us, and his group has been very supportive. He will be exploring beaver impacts at the same sites.

We are also partnering with the U.S. Forest Service at the Chugach National Forest, who will provide field support (such as boats and bear protection) for the Copper River Delta work.

What do you enjoy about doing field work that might not occur to most people?

KV: What I love most about field work is connecting with the landscape. Marshes are very flat and wide. When you stand in one, particularly like the ones in Alaska 鈥� or other places I鈥檝e worked, such as Louisiana 鈥� you start to understand how small people really are on this earth.

I love the squelch of the mud under my feet and the rotten egg smell it gives off. I actually wear scuba booties as my field shoes whenever it is safe so that I can feel the ground beneath me. There is so much you can sense about the marsh that is hard to capture in discrete samples and computer modeling.

Is there anything you find surprising or enlightening about doing field work, in general?

KV: Another part of field work that has changed the way I think about science is talking to the people who live on these landscapes. I鈥檝e worked on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts of the U.S. and each of these landscapes differ, as do the local issues and personalities. And yet, these communities share a certain kinship.

They face similar challenges and rely on their relationships with the land 鈥� from Cajuns in Louisiana to oyster growers in Willapa, to Indigenous peoples in Bristol Bay. Because their lives are truly tied to the land, the local people teach me things about the place that I could not glean from studying scientific papers or samples. Being in the field where I can listen to the stewards of the land gives me a greater appreciation for the data we collect, a reason to pursue the science and a deeper understanding of the processes that have shaped it.

For more information, contact Kendall Valentine at kvalent@uw.edu

91探花 oceanographer studies viruses 鈥� but not the viruses that get people worried. He studies viruses that infect ocean microorganisms, which are some of the most abundant living things on the planet.

Morris, a 91探花associate professor of oceanography, previously found that the most common bacteria in the oceans, SAR11, hosts a virus in its DNA. That virus is dormant most of the time, but when and how it erupts could play important roles in ocean ecology and evolution.

Now Morris and a collaborator at the University of California, Los Angeles, are going out with students to collect more of these tiny bacterial hosts and their viral guests to understand how these relationships change depending on the place or the season. They leave Dec. 16 aboard 91探花School of Oceanography鈥檚 small research vessel, the .

91探花News asked Morris a few questions about the upcoming cruise, which includes four undergraduate students, as part of an occasional series, 鈥�In the Field,鈥� highlighting 91探花field efforts.

Where are you going, and when?听

Robert Morris: Our research cruise will travel from the to the San Juan Islands. This track gives us access to important areas in Puget Sound as well as to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where open ocean water enters the Puget Sound.

We leave on Monday, Dec. 16 and return Friday, Dec. 20.

Have you visited these waters in the past?

RM: This is our third cruise. The first cruise was in September 2023 and focused on the Puget Sound main basin and Hood Canal. The second cruise was this past July and focused on the main basin, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and areas around the San Juan Islands. This third cruise will be a repeat of the summer cruise, but at a different time of year to investigate seasonal differences in the viruses that infect marine bacteria.

Who is going on the cruise?

RM: I am chief scientist on all three cruises, and , at the University of California, Los Angeles, is co-chief scientist. Each cruise has one additional mentor and four UCLA undergraduates.

For this cruise, the mentor is Jason Graff at Oregon State (past mentors have been 91探花graduate students Kunmanee Bubphamanee and Dylan Vecchione). For this cruise, the undergraduate students are Grace Donohue, Natalie Falta, Eleanor Gorham and Madeleine Swope.

What does your team hope to learn from this place?

RM: On the scientific side, we hope to identify spatial and temporal patterns in viruses that infect the oceans鈥� most abundant bacteria, which is SAR11. More specifically, we collect samples to identify the number and types of SAR11 bacterial cells that have viruses in their genomes and isolate new SAR11 species and the viruses that infect them throughout Puget Sound in summer and winter. We鈥檙e also curious how the number of viruses affects infection patterns across our sample sites and seasons.

From an outreach perspective, the field program was designed to allow students from 91探花and UCLA to collaborate and learn 鈥渉ands-on鈥� oceanography and to see how research ideas and experiments inform each other, especially when working in interdisciplinary teams and with active mentorship. We expect this field experience to expose more students to oceanographic fieldwork, which may inspire further studies in oceanography or other sciences.

If this is a repeat effort, will this year be different in any way?

RM: The upcoming cruise is the first one that will be conducted in the winter, with the goal of identifying viruses with different infection strategies. For instance, in the winter we expect to find fewer SAR11 cells, but more with viruses hiding out in their genomes.

Briefly, what鈥檚 a typical day in the field (if there鈥檚 such thing as a typical day)? And what鈥檚 something you enjoy about doing this field work?

RM: We start the day by collecting samples and setting up an incubation study, where we incubate and grow more bacterial cells. We do four incubation studies on each cruise. The study is designed to multiply bacterial viruses in a way that increases the number of cells that are infected. After the incubation experiment is set up, we visit other sites to collect background data that tells us about the environmental conditions in the surrounding area.

One of the most exciting parts of the day-to-day activities is that you don鈥檛 know what the day will bring. Much of the work is outside, so it can be sunny and calm, or rainy and rough. The work gets done either way!

Anything you鈥檇 like to add?

RM: We are working on a collaborative manuscript that will include data from the incubation studies and all student participants. 91探花graduate student , a doctoral student in Earth and space sciences, conducted research in my laboratory for her 91探花Astrobiology research rotation, and was able to gain field research experience during the second cruise. Two 91探花graduate students in my lab, and , will include bacterial culture and genetic sequencing data in future manuscripts.

Lastly, this has been an amazing experience and although many of the students from UCLA have not stayed in oceanography, most have applied to or have gone on to graduate school in science. It has been fantastic interacting with all of the students and seeing them grow into experienced oceanographers over the length of the cruises.

For more information, contact Morris at morrisrm@uw.edu.

, 91探花 assistant professor of geography, will spend a week this month in Norway as part of the orientation for the .

Bennett is one of 20 scholars selected to collaborate on multi-disciplinary research over the next 18 months. The Fulbright Arctic Initiative focuses on research and community engagement concerning policy issues in the Arctic region, such as security, energy and climate change.

The scholars will first convene in Troms酶, the largest city in northern Norway, to visit institutions including the and the . Then, they will travel to the interior of northern Norway, where there are many Indigenous communities. They鈥檒l visit the municipalities of Alta, Kautokeino and Karasjok, meeting with people at 厂谩尘颈 Parliament, 厂谩尘颈 University College and more.

Bennett is a political geographer who researches the geopolitics of infrastructure development in the Arctic and orbital space, with a focus on Indigenous empowerment, the influence of Asian political powers, and satellite observations.

As a Fulbright Arctic Scholar, Bennett will work with Indigenous and local northern communities in Norway to understand the impact of Arctic militarization in the face of renewed tensions with Russia. She鈥檒l return to Norway with the initiative in 2025.

Have you visited this site before?

Mia Bennett: I鈥檝e spent a fair amount of time in and around Troms酶, the biggest city in northern Norway, for work, travel, and volunteering. I鈥檝e attended an annual conference on the Arctic in Troms酶 every few years since 2013, and I also spent a month working on a horse farm an hour south of the city in 2022.

These experiences have allowed me to witness how much northern Norway has changed in the past decade or so, especially as tensions in the Arctic between the U.S. and Russia have ratcheted upwards, and as the Arctic has become more of a global tourism destination. However, I鈥檝e never been to Alta, Kautokeino and Karasjok, where our program will also take us, so I鈥檓 very much looking forward to that.

What do you hope to learn?

MB: I hope to learn from the 厂谩尘颈 people, who we will meet on their traditional lands in northern Norway, about both their history and where they see the future is headed.

厂谩尘颈 reindeer herders are engaged in an ongoing struggle against the wind power industry since turbines take up a great amount of land that could otherwise be used for herding. Global conversations often overlook the impacts of the green transition on Indigenous communities and lands, but in the Arctic, the issue is front and center.

What鈥檚 something you really enjoy about doing this field work 鈥� especially something that might not occur to most people?

MB: Northern Norway is far warmer and less remote than equivalent latitudes in Alaska or Canada. Its cities and small towns have incredible universities, museums, restaurants, and all sorts of amenities more associated with cities down south. What I really enjoy, though, is that once you get outside of town, you鈥檙e suddenly thrust into the tundra or on top of a fjord, and all you can see are glacially carved landscapes that only the 厂谩尘颈 and their reindeer truly know how to cross.

More generally, is there anything you find surprising or enlightening about doing field work?

MB: What I always find eye鈥搊pening about traveling in the Arctic is seeing how the region is connected to the rest of the world 鈥� even in the remotest settlements. Buying Ecuadorian bananas in Siberia or eating kimchi with maktak (whale skin and blubber) in Alaska offer reminders that while the region is far from the world鈥檚 political and economic centers, humanity鈥檚 drive towards connection, exchange and encounter has linked even the most distant corners of the Earth.

At the same time, for the Arctic, being brought into global circuits through extraction, colonization and imperialism has often greatly harmed local cultures and ecologies. Spending time doing fieldwork in the Arctic makes it possible to learn from people and places in the region the consequences of connectivity, both good and bad.

For more information, contact Bennett at miabenn@uw.edu

As the Earth warms due to climate change, soil that has been frozen for thousands of years is beginning to thaw. In some cases, this permafrost releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is known to trap heat in our planet鈥檚 atmosphere.

, a 91探花 doctoral student of civil and environmental engineering, has been investigating which environmental factors contribute to permafrost thaw and the release of methane into the atmosphere. For this research, Eklof has traveled to a field site southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, every year for the past five years.

“This area is changing rapidly,” Eklof said. “And it already had a reputation as the ‘land of extremes’ because its annual temperatures range from below -40 degrees Celsius (-40 F) to above 27 degrees Celsius (80 F), one of the largest temperature ranges in the world.”

In addition to doing research in Alaska, Eklof has spent the past three years as an instructor and co-coordinator of the , a free science summer camp for youth in foster care.

Now Eklof is headed back to Alaska for one last data collection season before he graduates. 91探花News asked him about the upcoming trip as part of an occasional series, “In the Field,” highlighting 91探花field efforts.

Tell us about this site. What does it look like?

Joel Eklof: The site was established almost 20 years ago and has been the subject of numerous publications as part of the and the .

I love hosting visitors, so I am going to talk through what you would see if you came to the field to visit, which is an open invitation to all readers 鈥� just know you will likely be put to work!

First, you pass a lush forest of towering deciduous and coniferous trees with grasses and mushrooms springing up at the edges of the trail. As you swipe at a few mosquitos, you continue to walk gently downhill and the compact trail morphs into a bouncy and narrow wooden boardwalk hovering low over the forest floor. Then the deciduous trees disappear and only coniferous black spruce trees remain. These trees are an indicator of frozen permafrost soils residing beneath your feet.

As you slowly gain more confidence treading on the boardwalk, the black spruce trees become progressively smaller as permafrost creeps closer to the surface. Tree size is limited by how deeply roots can grow, and because roots cannot grow into permafrost, shallow permafrost allows for only miniature versions of the towering black spruce seen earlier on the walk.

Just as your confidence in your balance is reaching a new high, a steep ramp transitions the boardwalk from inches above the surface to a full precarious meter (about 3 feet) above the surface. By now, the black spruce trees are becoming increasingly sparse.

Suddenly, you look up and notice the few remaining black spruce are leaning at a 45-degree angle. These are referred to as “drunken trees.” In this area, soil becomes too wet for black spruce to sustain themselves, creating an ensemble of dying trees marking the transition out of permafrost terrain.

Looking further down the boardwalk, we are greeted by a vibrantly green and moss-covered wetland, which is called a collapse scar bog. This bog formed as the soil surface dropped in response to permafrost thaw. As ground ice melted, soil from above filled the space once taken up by ice, causing the entire land surface to descend toward the water table.

We have now made it to our destination, and it is time to enjoy a field snack. At this point, I would offer some chocolate-covered almonds 鈥� my personal go to during fieldwork.

I have spent over 16 months at the site balancing on the boardwalks while collecting data. We collect over 40 types of data which include information about water, soil, vegetation, snow and greenhouse gas emissions.

What do you hope to learn on this trip?

JE: We have two main questions. The first question is how and why soil temperatures and permafrost thaw rates vary from year to year and location to location. The second question is how water, energy and nutrient inputs from the permafrost plateau impact how much methane the bog releases into the air. We explore these questions by observing how the site responds to natural variations in factors like air temperature, snow and rain.

The site has experienced a wide variety of conditions over the last six years. On December 26, 2022, more than an inch of rain fell when temperatures are usually below -20 degrees Celsius (-13 F). During this abnormal rain-on-snow event, we observed soil temperatures rise sharply at all site locations. Most researchers in the permafrost community, including us, expected this rain event to lead to a massive thaw. But, to our surprise, the permafrost did not thaw that year. This rain-on-snow event was followed by an unusually dry summer, and that likely protected the permafrost because thermal energy moves through dry soil more slowly than wet soil.

The longer we collect data, the more potentially insightful scenarios we observe. Each observation is another puzzle piece to better understand permafrost physics, wetland greenhouse gas emissions and how this system may change in the future.

This time next year, we will take one last trip to the site to do a final data offload, remove our instruments and send field materials back to Seattle.

Who will be participating in this field effort?

JE: I will be the only one from collecting data, but I will be surrounded by friends and colleagues from other groups. The culture of fieldwork here is that of collaboration, community and mutual support. We often eat lunch together overlooking the bog and help one another out whenever possible. Sometimes we dress up in preposterous, colorful and impractical outfits for what we call “Field Fashion Fridays.”

What鈥檚 something you really enjoy about doing this work 鈥� especially something that might not occur to most people?

JE: This fieldwork has a lot of exceptionally enjoyable moments. Some days, the sun is shining through the branches of larches as they change to a breathtaking golden color, the energetic population of dragonflies succeed in keeping the mosquitoes at bay, and data collection goes smoothly and efficiently. Those days are amazing!

There are also days, however, when intense hail mixed with rain soaks through your clothes just as an instrument worth thousands of dollars fails (again). To make matters worse, the mosquitoes, somehow, are still able to navigate the storm to find your unprotected hands and face. These moments, when everything seems to be going wrong, are enjoyable to me in their own way, even though for many people, these moments sound like a nightmare. In the preposterous chaos that occurs when Murphy鈥檚 Law takes over, I feel most alive and energized, and that I chose the perfect career path.

I am always surprised by the amount of calm and quiet moments fieldwork provides. Some types of data collection, such as permafrost probing or chemical sampling, take constant focus and physical exertion. There are other tasks, however, such as measuring greenhouse gas emissions, that involve a lot of stillness. During this process, we place a large white metal box onto the soil surface to record greenhouse gas emissions. Any movement may ruin the data by causing methane bubbles to float to the surface. This provides a rare moment in life when the best thing, and even more rarely, the most productive thing, is to be still. During these periods, sometimes I scribble notes or sketches, take in the view or read. I have read over 20 books while in the field. A few of my favorites are “Lord of the Rings,” “The Shining,” and “The House in the Cerulean Sea.”

Can you talk about your work with the Fostering Science program?

JE: Did you know youth in foster care are drastically underrepresented at summer camps? Barriers such as cost, transportation and lack of experience make participation difficult. The Fostering Science program provides a free week of learning, creating and playing in the boreal forest. Most of these youth are Alaska Native. Campers get the opportunity to develop an identity in science and their culture through close mentorship with Alaska Native Elders, Indigenous educators, artists and professional scientists such as myself.

Last year we created a paid leadership component, called , to give science, job and leadership training to participants close to aging out of the foster care system. Participants in this program learn science communication skills and build curriculum that they then teach during the Fostering Science camp.

I brought the leadership group to my field site and taught them all about the landscape transitions I described above. Then those participants gave the tours during Fostering Science and taught the campers all about permafrost, trees and wetlands. We also co-created an active trivia game that had campers jumping, skipping and crab-walking as they cemented their new knowledge.

This year I am coordinating and instructing in both programs again. Next year, when I will be a postdoctoral researcher, I plan to lead a formal evaluation of the educational impacts and outcomes of these amazing programs. We are also planning to create an internship program where past Leaders-In-Training can spend the whole summer working with researchers in the field.

For more information, contact Eklof at jeklof@uw.edu.

On Monday, large parts of the United States will experience a . This eclipse is expected to be a more significant event than the one in 2017, and the next one visible from the U.S. won鈥檛 happen until 2044. The sky will darken in Uvalde, Texas, just seconds before 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. local time in Texas) on April 8. The will then arc up through Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and New York state before exiting the U.S. over Maine at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Seattle is on the outer edge of the eclipse鈥檚 effects, with skies expected to darken here just 20% below regular levels.听

Among the many people travelling to witness the total eclipse firsthand will be , a 91探花 research assistant professor of Earth and space sciences, along with four 91探花graduate students. This effort is funded in part by the .

Journaux’s research combines results from experiments and space missions to understand Earth as well as other planets and moons within our solar system. For this trip he will bring a special telescope to capture the unique view of the sun and surrounding skies that becomes possible during a solar eclipse. 听

91探花News asked Baptiste about the upcoming trip as part of an occasional series, 鈥�In the Field,鈥� highlighting 91探花field efforts.听

Where are you going, and when?听听

Baptiste Journaux: We are currently aiming for somewhere along the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma. We will be there Sunday and Monday. The final location on Monday will depend on last-minute weather assessments to make sure we have the best chances of low cloud coverage. The choice of that general area is guided by flight prices and low population density to avoid traffic.听听

Have you visited this site before?听

BP: No 鈥� it will be quite exploratory!鈥�听

What do you and your students hope to see?听

BP: First, we are hoping to be able to observe the eclipse in the totality zone without too much cloud cover for near the longest eclipse time possible (more than 4 minutes). This will be significantly longer than the 2017 eclipse. During the totality, we will be able to see the sun’s corona with the naked eye. This is the farthest-extending feature of the sun’s atmosphere and is only visible during total eclipses.听听

As the sun is currently approaching its 鈥� or the peak in the roughly 11-year cycle of solar activity 鈥� we are expecting to see quite a few more solar features than in 2017. One feature we hope to see is large plasma bridges, called , that are suspended over the surface of the sun by its strong magnetic field.听听

During totality, the sky will get dark, and we should be able to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn appear on both sides of the sun. There is also a comet, , that should be visible just next to Jupiter. Overall, it promises to be quite an incredible and unique spectacle.听

Who will be participating in this field effort?听

BP: We will be going with four Earth and space sciences graduate students 鈥� , , and 鈥� as well as Sarah Smith with the College of the Environment, who will help to document the effort.听

What is the telescope that you will be bringing? What do you hope to learn?听

BP: We are bringing a special telescope that allows us to observe the sun in a single wavelength of hydrogen, the main constituent of the sun, to capture images of the sun鈥檚 surface features during the progression of the eclipse. We have been taking images of the sun from the 91探花campus to practice the use of this type of telescope, known as an H-alpha telescope.听

What鈥檚 something you enjoy about going into the field?听

BP: The main thing is experiencing a unique cosmic event that really gives perspective on the size and force of the universe. This is, honestly, one of the most incredible things that one can experience. Sharing that with our students will be a privilege.鈥�听

Can people follow your efforts?听

BP: I will post on my X account, , and we will have full coverage through the 91探花Environment channels on and .听

Anything you鈥檇 like to add?听

BP: Wish us luck with the weather!鈥�听

听听

For more information, contact Journaux at bjournau@uw.edu.听

Unlike the Pacific Northwest, the Atacama Desert in Chile experiences very little rain. But the two regions are both seismically active. Faults in the Atacama Desert are slowly sliding past each other in a way similar to the Seattle Fault in Puget Sound and the San Andreas Fault in California. The Atacama Desert鈥檚 lack of rain makes it easier to see how those gradual movements shape the landscape over time.

Alison Duvall, a 91探花 associate professor of Earth and space sciences, and doctoral student will travel to Chile this month to study landscapes developed along these types of faults. Duvall has previously studied historic landslides at the site of the rainfall-triggered Oso mudslide and how rainfall, earthquake and landslide risks combine in Oregon.

91探花News asked the two geophysicists about their upcoming trip as part of a new series, 鈥�In the Field,鈥� highlighting 91探花field research.

Where are you going, and when?

Tamara Ar谩苍驳耻颈锄-搁补驳辞: We will visit the , in the hyper-arid, or dry, core of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. The Salar is a dry lakebed that contains economic resources, in the form of salt, that is extracted from the basin and then exported around the world. We鈥檒l be there Nov. 19-25.

We鈥檙e interested in this area because it鈥檚 extremely dry and has active faults slicing through it. Only a few places on Earth register such low rates of precipitation, offering a landscape that stores climate and tectonic variations from the past 50 million years. At our field site, there are places that haven鈥檛 seen a drop of rain in 500 years!

As a result, this is one of the best places on Earth to study how landscapes respond to earthquakes and plate tectonics under hyper-arid conditions. Dry conditions slow down erosion and help preserve landscape form and enable us to observe processes, like tectonic processes, that modify the surface from deeper down.

Have you visited this field site before?

TA: I visited this site last fall with , another doctoral student in the Department of Earth & Space Sciences.

Alison Duvall: This will be my first time to this site, to Chile and to South America.

What do you hope to learn there?

AD: We want to learn more about the dynamics of slow faults that move laterally 鈥� strike-slip faults, similar to the San Andreas Fault in California 鈥� and how these dynamics control the shape of the landscape. In wet places, it鈥檚 hard to isolate faults鈥� effects on the landscape since water is the main agent driving erosion. What we observe on the surface in other places is a combination of tectonics and surface processes. However, thanks to the aridity of this place, it is easier to be confident about what is changing the landscape.

We鈥檙e also interested in how this landscape has shifted with a changing climate. This place was wetter in the past, and there is evidence of climate change happening to make the region hyper-arid. So we are also studying how the landscape has adapted to that change.听

What鈥檚 something that you enjoy about this field work 鈥� especially something that might not occur to most people?

TA: There is a really special feeling when you鈥檙e in the driest place on Earth. It almost feels like you鈥檙e on a different planet. You don鈥檛 see any signs of life 鈥� no water, no animals, no plants 鈥� but it鈥檚 just amazing to feel that nothingness.

Changes in the landscape are so slow that when you visit the site, you know that each step you make, or any perturbation we make to collect our samples, can be one of the biggest modifications to the landscape in hundreds of years.

Anything you鈥檇 like to add?

AD: I鈥檓 super excited to get to this incredible field site and spend time with Tamara studying it. We have done field work together in New Zealand, and I have done decades鈥� worth of field work in many different geomorphic settings, but never in a hyper-arid landscape like this one. I can鈥檛 wait to see what we find!

The 91探花鈥檚 large research vessel, the , will embark Aug. 13 from Newport, Oregon. A team of dozens of 91探花students, researchers and engineers will visit sites hosting a unique, National Science Foundation-funded, underwater observatory.

For almost six weeks the team will send a remotely operated vehicle, , to recover and deploy more than 100 instruments as far as 2 miles below the ocean鈥檚 surface, all connected to a cable that supplies power and internet connectivity. Team members will work around the clock to make the most of precious ship time and complete their tasks in the calmer summer conditions.

, a 91探花professor of oceanography, is the principal investigator and chief scientist for two of the expedition鈥檚 four legs. Kelley has been involved with the cabled observatory since its inception more than a decade ago. 91探花News asked her about as part of a new series, 鈥淚n the Field,鈥� highlighting 91探花field research.

Where are you going, and when?

Deborah Kelley: We鈥檙e visiting all the main sites on the , a submarine fiber-optic cabled observatory off the coast of Oregon spanning depths of 260 feet (80 meters) to 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers). We鈥檒l visit the Cascadia margin, hosting some of the most biologically productive waters in the ocean, and a highly dynamic methane seep site where methane is crystallized like ice, and issues as gas from the seafloor.

We鈥檙e also going to work at the base of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of the few places with seismometers on both the subducting oceanic plate and the North American continental plate. Then we go to Axial Seamount, the most active underwater volcano off our coast. We鈥檒l work at the base of the seamount, at 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) depth, and also install instruments in the summit caldera.

The entire cruise will be 41 days, loading Aug. 11, leaving shore Aug. 13 and finishing Sept. 20, divided into four legs with crew changes in Newport.

Have you visited this field site before?

DK: We surveyed the seafloor to plan out cable routes and instrument locations before the installation cruise in 2014, so it鈥檚 over a decade of visiting these sites every year. Still, we see new things on each expedition.

Our work was disrupted a bit by the pandemic. In 2020, we only had a couple of students with us. Everyone was under really strict quarantine, so logistically it was a nightmare. Last year we were back to having about 25 undergraduates onboard 鈥� all team members had to wear masks all the time and get tested twice a day. This year things will be more normal.

I haven鈥檛 gone the past two summers because I had to minimize my COVID exposure. This year, I鈥檓 going on Legs 1 and 4. I鈥檓 so excited 鈥� seeing some of the most extreme environments on Earth with the ROV, getting to work again with an amazing team and old friends on the ship, and interacting with 91探花undergraduate students will renew my spirit for sure.

What do you hope to learn?

DK: This cruise is mostly focused on maintaining this national facility 鈥� the biggest and most advanced underwater observatory in the U.S. Our job is to make sure that all the infrastructure is functioning, and keep the instruments running so that anyone in the world can explore our data.

We鈥檙e going to swap out over 100 instruments from the seafloor and water column, including an HD camera and a coupled microbial DNA and fluid sampler at Axial Seamount hot springs, and three instrumented vertical profiler robots that move up and down in the water.

The scientific scope of the observatory is incredibly interdisciplinary: It covers all types of oceanography, from geology to marine biology. The instruments provide unparalleled information on ocean heat waves, ocean acidification, earthquake activity, and tsunami waves.

The infrastructure at Axial Seamount forms the most advanced volcanic observatory in the world鈥檚 oceans. The seismic activity鈥檚 been picking up there, and the seafloor is still inflating, so there will be an eruption upcoming, it鈥檚 already the level where it was when it previously erupted.

Satellite instruments can detect ocean temperature at the surface, but a satellite doesn鈥檛 see down into the water column. 听And sea-going oceanographers are lucky if they get to go out to sea once a year. But this observatory has three moorings with profilers hosting nine instruments each that go up and down nine times a day, from 600 feet depth to just below the surface, and have made more than 40,000 vertical profiles so far.

Who will be participating in this field campaign?

DK: Over the four legs we have 144 science berths, and they鈥檙e all full, including students, the science team, engineers and the team that operates the remotely operated vehicle.

This year鈥檚 include 25 undergraduates from the UW, Bellevue College and Queens College in New York. The students are from all disciplines: neuroscience, computer science, oceanography, biology, engineering and Earth sciences. Three students from past years will also join the technical team and act as ambassadors.

We have several add-on science programs. One is led by a former 91探花Oceanography graduate student, , who is now a faculty member at Carleton College. She received a five-year award to look at changes in microbial DNA and viruses in and near the hydrothermal vents, and will bring a postdoc and student with her.

This year a children鈥檚 National Book Award finalist, , will join us on the first leg to collect material for a new book.

We鈥檒l also have a 19-year-old filmmaker from the U.K., Leo Richards, who produces short films for his YouTube and other channels. He鈥檒l be joining us on legs 1, 2 and 3 to document the Regional Cabled Array and the amazing environments and life there.

What鈥檚 one thing you really enjoy about doing field work 鈥� especially something that might not occur to most people?

DK: I鈥檓 still amazed every time I see the seafloor. Even places where you don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 much life, animals thrive. The incredible life around hydrothermal vents can flourish in high-temperature fluids devoid of oxygen, but enriched in toxic metals, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. One of my favorite animals that lives its entire life in near-freezing waters and in complete darkness is the 鈥渄umbo鈥� octopus.

Over 70% of the world鈥檚 volcanism is in the oceans. I just never get tired of looking at these systems, and the lava flows that occur around them. We see fossilized rivers of glass-covered lava, and amazing underwater hot springs.

I love the science, and I love the engineering, but I really am passionate about taking students out to sea with us. A lot of them say it changes their life. That鈥檚 a gift, to be part of.

Is there any way for people to follow your efforts (blog, Twitter, Instagram, etc.?)

DK: We鈥檒l be posting updates on the VISIONS鈥�23 . We鈥檒l have a , , and a new 鈥渇eatured image鈥� every day or so. We鈥檒l also be streaming whenever the remotely operated vehicle is in the water, and during deck operations and transits between sites.

This year we won鈥檛 be creating our own social media channels, but you can find updates on the , and feeds of the larger NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative, which includes observatories in other locations.

Anything you鈥檇 like to add?听

DK: We just updated the Regional Cabled Array , and I鈥檓 really proud of it. It鈥檚 got phenomenal images, and we refreshed the biological catalog. Here鈥檚 an example of the “鈥澨齱e always see, that looks really prehistoric, and it鈥檚 very rarely photographed. So. if people want to explore, our technology, the seafloor and deep-ocean environments off our coast, and the life found there, they should check out the gallery of images from past cruises (and from this one, as the cruise continues).

For more information, contact Kelley at dskelley@uw.edu.