Beginning January 6, 2012, an international, interdisciplinary team of scientists will be spending nearly a month at sea aboard the R/V Atlantis. Co-funded by NASA’s ASTEP, the crew will use the deep-diving, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason to explore and sample newly discovered hydrothermal fields on the Mid-Cayman Rise—Earth’s deepest and one of its most slowly-spreading mid-ocean ridges.

As the final preparations are made, Chris German, Chief Scientist on the OASES cruise, sat down for a short question-and-answer session about the geologic, geochemical, and biological questions he and others will be addressing through the three-week cruise.