Science Report:
While the previous science reports have come from Dr. Edward Baker, this report is comes from Dr. Joseph Resing.

If you've read the previous reports, I think Ed has done a good job of touching on many of the aspects that go into what happens on an oceanographic research vessel and more particularly into what happens during our cruises to study underwater volcanoes. He mentioned for instance that the ship is going 24 hours a day seven days a week. Well, as fate would have it, I am on the midnight to noon watch. About three or four days ago, my body finally adjusted. As I write this report it is 1:00pm and I am getting ready for bed.

I am an ocean chemist and when I take water from the hydrocasts that Ed mentioned, I look for chemical clues that will tell me about the volcano. I measure Fe and Mn, which are leached out of the solid lava. I also measure pH. Differences in pH tell me how much carbon dioxide gas is coming out of the volcanoes. When I combine these chemical clues with other physical measurements, I get a very good idea about the magmatic state of the volcano. So far my measurements show a large decrease in the gas content of the fluids from Axial Volcano. This is consistent with the continued decay of volcanic emissions following the eruption of axial in February of 1998.

To make these measurements I use a shipboard chemical analyzer (in the second picture, I am placing a new sample into the instrument) to measure Fe and Mn, and a pH meter to measure pH . I also operate an instrument that will measure Fe, Mn, and pH under water. I place the instrument onto the CTD package and as it is pulled through the water as Ed described I obtain a picture of the distribution of these chemicals above the volcano. This instrument is an in situ chemical analyzer, I like to refer to it as the Vents In Situ Analyzer (VISA, it's every where you want to be). In the picture, I am trying to repair the instrument's pump. With help from shore-based engineers, I am making some progress.