在 82.5N 的 Aurora 热液喷口场，HACON 项目成功地对岩石、流体、沉积物和动物群进行了采样，以更好地了解北冰洋深处的功能。

一支杰出的研究人员团队通过对地球上最后一个真正偏远且难以进入的永久冰层深处的环境进行采样和拍摄，在深海探索方面迈出了重要一步。这是第一次在遥远的北方成功调查类似于水下火山的热液喷口。这项工作提供了在由于冰盖退缩而导致的北极商业活动预期开始之前的信息基线。对样本的分析将使研究人员能够评估动物群是在北冰洋孤立进化还是与其他海洋盆地相连。此外，这些数据将提供早期生命如何在地球上形成的一瞥，并激起人们对太空探索和在太阳系中寻找外星生命的浓厚兴趣。

该HACON 2021探险队是第一次参加这样一个独特的环境已经成功探索和永久的极地海冰下面详细取样，打开路径为未来的国际远程加科尔山脊的探索。

9 月 28 日至 10 月 21 日，由 CAGE/UiT（挪威北极大学）和挪威水资源研究所 (NIVA) 领导的 HACON 2021 探险队汇集了一支由 28 名科学家、工程师和通信专家组成的多元化和跨国团队破冰船 RV Kronprins Haakon 上的专家们将探索地球上最难以接近的热液喷口之一的“黑烟”热液喷口，该喷口位于 4000 米深的 Gakkel 山脊上的 Aurora 喷口。由于从烟囱状结构中散发出的黑色、“烟状”、过热的液体（超过 300 摄氏度），这些通风口被称为黑烟。

20 年前，当从海底挖出热液岩材料时，首次发现了极光喷口场。直到 2014 年，在 Antje Boetius 教授 (AWI) 领导的一次德国巡游期间，首次目视确认了活跃的黑烟民，这才得到了探索。HACON 团队于2019 年重新访问了该站点，提供了使用拖曳式摄像机获得的热液喷口场的额外高分辨率图像。由于在厚厚的流冰条件下工作的技术挑战，该团队无法使用 ROV（远程操作车辆）直接对现场进行采样。

这次不一样。

尽管海冰厚且高度集中，但在观察和采样喷口位置方面，这次航行取得了巨大成功。使用的主要设备之一是由 REV Ocean 提供的新型 ROV，恰当地命名为“Aurora”。这是第一次使用 ROV。强大的团队努力需要船长和军官、科学团队、ROV 飞行员和船员的大力协调，从而对极光喷口场进行了首次详细的视觉调查和制图，并收集了 100 多个视觉、地质、地球化学和生物样品。

从高温流体、烟囱岩、沉积物和动物群中采集的样本现在将在合作机构的实验室进行分析，以更好地了解喷口的组成和功能。团队已经对新发现表示了高度信心，并打算在未来几年在同行评审的学术期刊上连续提交文章。

在首次发现深海热液喷口四十年后，HACON21 巡航增加了大量的视觉材料和物理样本，这些样品是有史以来在北冰洋冰下研究的第一个热液喷口。这些数据有助于完成全球喷口的全球生物地理难题之一。船上出色的协作氛围促进了各组之间的大量样本共享。这些活动加强了现有的伙伴关系，并在来自不同国家和国际机构的许多团队之间建立了新的伙伴关系。

未来的一个关键目标是利用结果共同应对与脆弱海洋生态系统和海洋保护区相关的挑战和解决方案。这将为政府间倡议提供新的科学，例如联合国关于国家管辖范围以外区域海洋生物多样性的保护和可持续利用的会议、联合国可持续发展目标和联合国海洋科学十年，特别是挑战者 150 计划.

参考资料：

背景

AMORE 2001 探险队（美国）定位了极光喷口场，收集水柱中热液羽流的化学信号。2014年，来自AWI（德国）的Polarstern（PS86）巡航观察到了第一个黑烟民，黑烟民位置的具体位置是在整个HACON 2019航程的OFOBS潜水中获得的。

主要的黑烟民“Hans Tore Vent”的命名是为了纪念来自卑尔根大学的世界领先深海生物学家汉斯·托雷·拉普教授，他于 2020 年去世，是 HACON 团队的重要成员。

资助者

由挪威研究委员会资助的 FRINATEK 计划提供了必要的资助框架，从中可以开发可以极大促进科学发展的高风险高收益项目。船期由Uni提供。特罗姆瑟。HACON 项目合作伙伴和合作者来自 CAGE-Uni。特罗姆瑟、挪威水研究所、卑尔根大学、海洋研究所、阿威罗大学（葡萄牙）、伍兹霍尔海洋研究所（美国）、阿尔弗雷德韦格纳研究所（德国）、NASA-JPL（美国） 、纪念大学（加拿大）和南安普顿大学（英国）。最后更新 28.10.2021

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HACON project pioneers 4km deep explorations of hydrothermal vents under permanent Arctic Ice cover

At the Aurora hydrothermal vent field, 82.5N, the HACON project successfully sampled rocks, fluids, sediments and fauna to better understand the functioning of the deep Arctic Ocean.

An exceptional team of researchers has taken a major step forward in deep-sea exploration by sampling and filming one of Earth’s last truly remote and inaccessible environments deep below the permanent ice. This is the first-time hydrothermal vents, which resemble underwater volcanoes, have been successfully investigated this far north. This work provides a baseline of information prior to the anticipated onset of commercial activity in the Arctic as a consequence of retreating ice cover. The analysis of the samples will allow researchers to assess if the fauna has evolved in isolation in the Arctic Ocean or if it is connected to other ocean basins. In addition, the data will provide a glimpse of how early life formed on Earth, and stir high interest in space exploration and the search for extra-terrestrial life in our solar system.

The HACON 2021 expedition is the first time such a unique environment has been successfully explored and sampled in detail beneath permanent polar sea ice, opening the path for future international exploration of the remote Gakkel Ridge.

From September 28th to October 21st the HACON 2021 expedition, led by CAGE/UiT (The Arctic University of Norway) and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), brought together a diverse and multi-national team of 28 scientists, engineers and communication experts aboard the icebreaker RV Kronprins Haakon to explore ‘black smoker’ hydrothermal vents in one of the most inaccessible vent fields on the planet, the Aurora vent field on the Gakkel Ridge at 4000m depth. The vents are called black smokers because of the dark, ‘smoke-like’, super-heated liquid (over 300o C) that emit from chimney-like structures.

The Aurora vent field was first detected 20 years ago, when hydrothermal rock material was dredged from the seafloor. It remained unexplored until 2014, when the first visual confirmation of the active black smokers was obtained during a German cruise led by Prof Antje Boetius (AWI). The HACON team revisited this site in 2019 providing additional high-resolution images of the hydrothermal vent field obtained with a towed camera. The team was unable to directly sample the site with an ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) due to the technical challenges of working in thick, drifting ice conditions.

This time was different.

Despite thick and highly concentrated sea ice, the cruise has been a tremendous success in terms of observing and sampling  the vent site. One of the main equipment used was a new ROV, aptly named “Aurora”, provided by REV Ocean. This was the first time the ROV was used. A strong team effort requiring tremendous coordination from the ship’s Captain and Officers, science team, ROV pilots and crew, resulting in the first detailed visual survey and mapping of the Aurora Vent Field and collection of more than 100 visual, geological, geochemical, and biological samples.

The samples taken of high-temperature fluids, chimney rock, sediments and fauna will now be analysed at laboratories in the partner institutes to get a better understanding of the composition and functioning of the vents. The teams have already expressed high confidence of new discoveries and intend to submit a succession of articles in peer-reviewed academic journals in the coming years.

Forty years after the first discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, the HACON21 cruise has added a wealth of visual material and physical samples of the first hydrothermal vents ever studied in the Arctic Ocean under ice. This data helps to complete one of the missing pieces of the global biogeographic puzzle of vents around the globe. The excellent collaborative atmosphere onboard facilitated significant sharing of samples amongst the groups. These activities strengthened existing partnerships, as well as established new ones amongst many of the teams from the different national and international institutions.

A key goal going forward is to use the results to work together on challenges and solutions related to Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems and Marine Protected Areas. This will result in new science provided to intergovernmental initiatives such as the UN conference on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Decade for Ocean Science, in particular the Challenger 150 programme.

Referanse:

Background

The AMORE 2001 expedition (US) located the Aurora vent field collecting chemical signal of the hydrothermal plume in the water column. In 2014, the Polarstern (PS86) cruise from AWI (Germany) observed the first black smoker, and the specific locations of the black smoker positions were obtained during OFOBS dives throughout the HACON 2019 cruise.

The main black smoker, the “Hans Tore Vent”, was named in honor of Prof Hans Tore Rapp, a world-leading deep-sea biologist from the Uni Bergen, who passed away in 2020 and was a key member of the HACON team.

Funder

The FRINATEK programme, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, provides the necessary funding framework from which to develop high risk-high gain projects that can greatly advance science. The shiptime was provided by the Uni. Tromsø. HACON project partners and collaborators participated from CAGE-Uni. Tromsø, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, University of Bergen, the Institute of Marine Research, the University of Aveiro (Portugal), , Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA), the Alfred Wegner Institute (Germany),  NASA-JPL (USA), Memorial University (Canada) and the University of Southampton (UK).Last updated 28.10.2021