This cruise to the southern Lesser Antilles volcanic arc is part of the INSPIRE project, funded by NSF with the purpose of studying and improving telepresence for ocean exploration. Scientists will implement several student-designed exploration projects led from shore. Kick’em Jenny is the most active submarine volcano in the Caribbean Sea, and during the past century it has shown a history of progressive growth with explosive eruptions. Hazards include explosive eruptions that can breach the sea surface and the potential for tsunami generation. The Nautilus cruise in 2014 will continue exploration of Kick’em Jenny with a new set of sensors to examine any changes in gas/fluid venting in the inner crater that might indicate renewed eruptive activity. Another area of investigation is a large province of cold seeps and mud volcanoes North of Trinidad & Tobago. These methane and sulfur-rich fluids host chemosynthetic biological communities and produce mud volcanoes by transporting and discharging fine grain mud on the seafloor.
Kick 'em Jenny Submarine Volcano Project
September 18 – October 8, 2014
NA054
Expedition Partners
Meet the Team
Gallery Highlights
Video:
Stunning Siphonophore Strikes Back- 2014 (Remastered!)
Video:
Creepy Ghost Shark With Parasites
Video:
Best of 2014: Nautilus Season Highlights
Video:
Beautiful Octopus Found on Trinidad Mud Volcano
Video:
Stunning Siphonophore Strikes Back
Video:
Massive Mussel Bed Discovery
Photo album:
Exploring Mud Volcanoes and Vents in Trinidad and Tobago
Blog:
"Wrath of Khan" Worm Found in Mussels
Video:
Beautiful Big-Finned Chimaera
Photo album:
Exciting Operations During Kick'em Jenny
Video:
Deep Sea Predation: Squid Eats Fish
Video:
Caribbean Reef Shark Investigates Hercules
Photo album:
Exploring and Sampling an Underwater Volcano
Photo album:
Creatures of Kick'em Jenny
Video:
Remote Exploration: Telepresence and the Future of Science
Video:
Red Shrimp Cluster Around a Gas Seep
Blog:
The Future of Science: Exploring with Remote Telepresence
Video:
Hercules Gets Schooled
Video:
Sampling at Kick 'em Jenny Volcano
Selected Publications
2023
(2023). Towards a scientific community consensus on designating Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems from imagery. PeerJ 11: e16024. https://peerj.com/articles/16024/
(2023). A tale of two tubeworms: taxonomy of vestimentiferans (Annelida: Siboglinidae) from the Mid-Cayman Spreading Centre. Invertebrate Systematics 37 (3): 167-191.
(2023). Contrasting T-phase and P-wave patterns from the 2015 and 2017 eruptions of the submarine volcano Kick-‘em-Jenny: influence of cardinal direction on recorded first phase arrival. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 113 (5): 2056–2068. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/…
2018
(2018). In situ Carbon Isotopic Exploration of an Active Submarine Volcano. Deep Sea Research II 150: 57-66.
(2018). Complementary acoustic and optical methods for characterization of diffuse venting, gas seeps, and biota distributions at hydrothermal systems: A case study at Kick’em Jenny Volcano. Deep Sea Research II 150: 67-81.
2017
(2017). Characterisation of methane-seep communities in a deep-sea area designated for oil and natural gas exploitation off Trinidad and Tobago. Frontiers in Marine Science Special Issue: Anthropogenic Disturbances in Deep Sea.
2016
(2016). Hydrothermal Venting and Mineralization in the Crater of Kick'em Jenny Volcano, Grenada (Lesser Antilles). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 17(3): 1000-1019.
(2016). Transforming Undergraduate Research Opportunities using Telepresence. Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Sound and Vibration 64(2): 138-146.