Skip to main content
Ocean Networks Canada

Ocean Networks Canada

Search form

Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn iconYouTube iconFlickr iconInstagram icon

Menu

  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Jobs & Opportunities
    • Events & Workshops
    • Contact Us
    • Support Us
    • Annual Report 2019-2020
    • Organization
      • Leadership
      • Staff
      • Boards
      • Committees
    • Funders, Associate Members & Partners
      • Funders
      • Associate Members
      • Partners
  • Science
    • Science
    • Active Research
    • Highlights
    • Science Plan
      • Summary
      • Science Themes
    • Publications
      • General Interest
      • Academic
    • Getting Involved
      • Proposals
  • Innovation Centre
    • Innovation Centre
    • About the Innovation Centre
    • Success Stories
    • Contact Us
    • Smart Ocean™ Systems
      • Sensors and Instruments
      • Technology Demos
      • Ocean Observing Systems
      • Earthquake Early Warning
    • Partners & Networks
      • Industry Network
      • Global Partnerships
      • R&D Support
      • Students in Industry
    • Atlantic Partners
  • Learning
    • Learning
    • Learning Highlights
    • Learning Events
    • Partnerships
    • Contact Us
    • Ocean Sense
      • Community Observatories
        • Cambridge Bay
        • Campbell River
        • Kitamaat Village
        • Prince Rupert
      • Teacher Info
      • Student Info
      • Resources & Lessons
    • Get Involved
      • For Students
        • For Undergrads & Grads
      • For Educators
        • Educator Opportunities
      • For Communities
      • Ship2Shore
      • Citizen Science
        • Coastbuster
        • Digital Fishers
      • Youth Science Ambassador
    • Resources
      • Learning at Home
      • Educator Resources
      • Ocean Alive!
      • Oceanography 101
      • About the Observatories
      • Research Ideas
      • Student Reports
  • Observatories
    • Observatories
    • Arctic
    • Atlantic
    • Pacific
    • Mobile Platforms
    • Infrastructure
      • Data Facilities
      • Platforms
      • Devices & Sensors
      • Cables & Connectors
    • Expeditions
      • Wiring the Abyss
      • Expedition Logs
      • Maintenance Processes
    • Notices
      • Information for Mariners
      • Alerts
  • Data & Tools
    • Data & Tools
    • Highlights
    • Data Quality
    • Preview & Download
      • Preview & Visualize
      • Data Download Tools
      • State of the Ocean Plots
      • Ocean Report Card
    • Apps & Services
      • Mobile Apps
      • OPeNDAP Web Services
      • Related Sources
      • Earthquake Data Dashboard
    • Data Help
      • Usage Policy
      • Tutorials & Help Pages
      • Request Help
  • Sights & Sounds
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Terms of Use
    • Video
      • Live Video
      • Video Highlights
      • Video Archives
    • Images
      • Maps
    • Audio
      • Audio Highlights
      • Audio Archive
  • News
    • News
    • Stories
    • Newsletters
    • Calendar
    • Media Relations
      • Backgrounders
      • Downloads
      • In the News
      • News Releases
      • Media Contacts

About Us

You are here

  1. Home
Aug 15, 2013

Introduction to Endeavour

A black smoker hydrothermal vent being studied at ONC's Endeavour observatory.

Endeavour at a Glance:

  • Region: Part of the complex mid-ocean ridge system along the spreading seafloor boundary between the Juan de Fuca and Pacific tectonic plates.
  • Instrument Platforms:
    • Main Endeavour Vent Field (MEF)
    • NE and NW Regional Circulation Moorings (NE-RCM and NW-RCM, respectively)
    • North RCM Platform (N-RCMP)
    • Tempo-Mini
  • Depths  
    • MEF: 2192 m
    • NE-RCM: 2158 m
    • NW-RCM: 2138 m
    • N-RCMP: 2154 m
    • Tempo-Mini: 2186 m
  • Locations
    • MEF: Lat: 47°56.9389’ N, Lon: 129°05.9123’ W
    • NE-RCM: Lat: 47°58.4223’ N, Lon: 129°04.9388’ W
    • NW-RCM: Lat: 47°58.4849’ N, Lon: 129°05.2523’ W
    • N-RCM: Lat: 47°58.4061’ N, Lon: 129°04.9177’ W
    • Tempo-Mini: Lat: 47°56.9574’ N, Lon: 129°05.8998’ W
  • Seafloor Composition: The seafloor is an elaborate network of fissures, trenches, dykes, pillow lava deposits, rocky outcrops, sediment beds, and sulphide towers.
  • Principal Research: Plate tectonics, seismicity, volcanism, and hydrothermal vent systems and ecosystems.
Map of ONC installations  long the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge in the Northeast Pacific.

Map of Ocean Networks Canada installations along the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge in the Northeast Pacific. Click to enlarge.

Environment/Ecosystems: 

The hydrothermal vent ecosystem found at the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuce mid-ocean ridge, formed from the pulling apart of the Juan de Fuca and Pacific plates, is characterized by extreme environments and unique organisms.

As the plates recede from one another, new oceanic crust is formed, giving rise to a chemically and geologically active region on the seafloor. Riddled with cracks and fractures, cold seawater percolates downwards towards the hot mantle, where it undergoes physical and chemical transformations before being vented back towards the seafloor.

This superheated (300°C-400°C), sulfide-rich fluid, upon contact with the surrounding cool seawater (2°C), sees its dissolved minerals precipitated out of solution, forming towering chimneys of minerals such as sulphide. As the fluid vents, the sulphide and other heavy minerals give it the look of black ‘smoke’ so they are known as ‘black smokers’ on the seafloor.  

At a depth of over two thousand meters, around these seemingly uninhabitable chimneys of superheated, mineral-rich fluid, scientists have discovered –and continue to discover – an astonishing array of life.

Tubeworms blanket the rugged and cracked terrain at the Endeavour Ridge system.

What Makes the Endeavour Observatory Unique?

Classified as a Marine Protected Area in 2003, the Main Endeavour Vent Field (MEF) is the first protected marine area in Canada, and the first hydrothermal vent ecosystem protected in the world.

Altogether devoid of sunlight, and therefore too deep for photosynthetic organisms (such as plants and algae) to survive, deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems are sustained instead by chemosynthetic organisms. These organisms use energy from the chemical reactions occurring as superheated (300-400°C), mineral-laden hydrothermal fluid mixes with seawater (2°C), producing organic matter which then feeds a host of unique consumers higher up the food chain.

The result of this strange relationship is an entirely new type of ecosystem, vibrant yet alien, and populated by many species which exist nowhere else in the world.

Home to an array of unusual and endemic species, Ocean Networks Canada’s Endeavour site then is uniquely positioned and expertly equipped to study this ecosystem and its dynamic physical and chemical characteristics.   

The Endeavour Ridge system is characterized by geochemically active, cracked, and spreading seafloor.

Principal Research: 

Monitoring Endeavour-Middle Valley Hydrothermal Systems, a research project led by Kathryn Gillis, serves to monitor both the spatial and temporal variability associated with seafloor spreading, and the variability in biogeochemical and physical processes associated with hydrothermal vent fields. Constantly evolving, other research projects utilizing the Endeavor site can be found below:

  • The Seismograph Network, led by Garry Rogers, uses four broadband/strong motion seismographs and four short period seismographs to study subsea earthquakes and other tectonic activity.
  • Michelle Weirathmueller and Dax Soule, students with Willian Wilcock’s University of Washington Research group, are using seismic data to detect low-frequency calls of fin and blue whales.
  • Endeavour Tomography Experiment, led by University of Washington marine geophysicist William Wilcock is testing competing models of how ridge process and segmentation are controlled.

 

Videos

Live Video at Tempo-Mini

Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents

What will researchers be studying along the mid-ocean ridge?

What new instrumentation will support future research at Endeavour?

The Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge was likely named after the Canadian Navy Auxiliary Vessel (CNAV) Endeavour, after its identification by Sandra Barr and Richard Chase in1974. This vessel, in turn, was named after British explorer Captain James Cook's ship the HMS Endeavour. See the Frequently Asked Questions page for additional information.

NEPTUNE | endeavour | hydrothermal vent | Juan de Fuca ridge | venting | black smoker

Printer-friendly versionPDF version

Related Stories

International sensors at Endeavour hot vents
Sep 15, 2018

From Cosmos to Core: Wiring the Abyss Expedition 2018
Sep 12, 2018

Wiring the Abyss Leg 2: 23 July – 3 August 2018
Jul 20, 2018

Endeavour expansion during Leg 1 of Expedition 2018: Wiring the Abyss
Jul 4, 2018

Oceans 2.0: An Internet of Things for the Ocean
Feb 9, 2018

Expedition 2016 Wrap: Bigger Footprint Enables Better Science
Jul 8, 2016

Wiring the Abyss 2016 Leg 1 - Summary and Highlights
Jun 1, 2016

Calendar of Events

January 2021

  • « Prev  
  •   Next »
S M T W T F S
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Newsletter

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter:

 

Tweets Follow @Ocean_Networks

 

 

Highlights

  • Audio
  • Data
  • Learning
  • Science
  • Video

Reading Room

  • Active Research
  • Backgrounders
  • FAQs
  • Glossary
  • News Briefs
  • News Stories
  • Newsletters
  • Publications

Cool Stuff

  • Apps
  • Digital Fishers
  • iBooks & e-Pubs
  • Live Video
  • Maps
  • Images
  • State of the Ocean

Data & Tools

  • Apps
  • Data Plots
  • Data Search
  • Data Policy
  • Data Help
  • OPeNDAP Web Services

Opportunities

  • Calendar
  • Educator Opportunities
  • Global Partnerships
  • Industry Network
  • Jobs
  • Staff List
  • Technology Services

Sites & Instruments

  • Arctic Sites
  • Northeast Pacific Sites
  • Salish Sea Sites
  • Notice to Mariners

Follow Us

Facebook iconTwitter iconLinkedIn iconYouTube iconFlickr iconInstagram icon

Sign up for our newsletter

Feedback

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

                              

About Us | Contact Us | Media Relations | Legal Notices

©   Ocean Networks Canada. All rights reserved.  2474 Arbutus Road, Victoria, BC, V8N 1V8 | 1.250.472.5400