Results of the international collaboration to monitor the TAG hydrothermal
field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 26 degrees N, 45 degrees W, are reported
in a special section of 23 papers in "Geophysical Research Letters" (volume
23, number 23, November 15, 1996) edited by Peter A. Rona
(rona at ahab.rutgers.edu) and Richard P. Von Herzen (rvonh at red.whoi.edu).
The papers report findings of a coordinated series of cooperative cruises
and dives with Japanese, Russian and US submersibles between 1993 and 1995
that performed baseline measurements and established a seafloor observatory
that monitored the active sulfide mound in the TAG field before, during,
and after drilling by Ocean Drilling Program Leg 158 in October-November
1994. The papers are of broad interest with reference to innovative
monitoring methods and the response of a major hydrothermal field on a
sediment-free ocean ridge to drilling.
