Changes in a hydrothermal vent community over time Exploration
This activity is under construction!
Your Objective
Use HD video to characterize the changes in a hydrothermal vent community over time. Make comparisons with earthquake count and seawater temperature data to explore potential connections between the geology, chemistry, and biology of a hydrothermal vent ecosystem.
Sample HD video imagery to characterize a hydrothermal vent community and study changes in that community over time.
Explore data connected to geological processes (earthquake counts) and chemical processes (seawater temperature) to investigate potential correlations between the datasets.
You can go through the video clips using the slider bar above. Graphs of the temperature data will only use some of the sensors, not all 24. The data may be averaged by day, 3-day or 5-day intervals.
Questions for Thought
Orientation Questions
What organisms live at hydrothermal vents?
What environmental factors may influence where animals live at hydrothermal vents?
What is the time period covered in the video sequence?
Where are the instruments located in relation to each other?
Interpretation Questions
What changes or patterns did you observe in the video of the hydrothermal vent community?
What might account for the changes (or lack of changes) observed?
Are the earthquake counts or seawater temperature correlated to changes observed in the hydrothermal vent community? Why or why not?
Synthesis Questions
Describe the relationships between the earthquake counts or seawater temperature data to changes observed in the hydrothermal vent community? How does this add to your understanding of hydrothermal vent communities?
Background Information
Click on the images below to learn more about where and how the dataset above was collected.