The MOMARnet Marie Curie Research Training Network aims at strengthening the European approach to deep sea floor observatory science and technology, by reinforcing the links between fourteen European laboratories in eight countries, by training a multidisciplinary group of young researchers, and by producing new science and preparing for new seagoing cruises and seafloor experiments.
MOMARnet has two broad research targets:
Understanding the dynamics of slow-spreading ridge hydrothermal vents and their plumbing system (depth of seawater circulation, heat sources, feedback between volcanic, hydrothermal and seismic events)
Understanding deep-seafloor hydrothermal ecosystems, including their distribution, role and variety of organisms, life cycles, effects of changes in the hydrothermal outflow (temperature, flowrate, chemistry, etc.)