In recent years there have been increasing numbers of reports of submarine hydrothermal systems on mid-ocean ridges and in back-arc basins. However, these are all in deep water and are only accessible using submersibles or deep water ROV's. Reports of shallow water submarine hydrothermal activity have been much less frequent, even though such occurrences are often amenable to direct observation, by scuba divers and ROV's. Many of the most important features of submarine hydrothermal systems (e.g. composition, flux rates) can be studied equally as well in shallow water as in deep water, but for much less cost and thus their investigation warrants further attention.

The major project milestones are the two field programs planned for the summers of 1999 and 2000. These studies will provide valuable results for comparison with other shallow water vent regions within Europe (e.g. Mediterranean Sea) and with well known deep water hydrothermal systems such as in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Azores.

The research on marine hydrothermal vents is supported by the following projects: MAS3-CT97-0092: ASIMOV - Advanced System Integration for Managing the co-ordinated operation of robotics Ocean Vehicles; EU - INTAS-94-0592: Biogeography and biodiversity of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: an international co-operative study.

The research in the area of the Azores involves the study of: i) The physical, chemical and biological fluxes from contrasted hydrothermal fields as heat and matter are dispersed through a hydrothermal plume into the adjoing MAR rift-valley; ii) The high- and low-temperature fluxes (physical and chemical) and internal structure of the hydrothermal systems and vent field scale; iii) The influence of depth through chemical, physical and biological processes on hydrothermal vent ecosystems. In addition, some supporting studies are purposed to provide a regional perspective for detailed investigations. We are integrated in this project in association with the Marine Laboratory of Guia (Cascais, Portugal) and the Municipal Museum of Funchal (Madeira, Portugal). Studies involve feeding strategies of carnivorous and scavengers animals carrying stomach content analysis and calorimetric values of preys and predators. Catches with baited traps deployed on the bottom and carried out every 3 months during two years at Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen will provide data on the vagile megafauna of these sites. Analysis of video recording, taken by the submersibles, of megafauna behaviour will be carried out. Megafauna distribution around hydrothermal vents will also be evaluated.

The Department is becoming more and more involved on the study of the biology and ecology of deep sea hydrothermal vents recently discovered at around 1,100 to 1,700 m depth for the Lucky Strike and 860 to 970 m for the Menez Gwen. The Azores constitute an area with best potential for this kind of studies. Our participation on these studies involved the participation on the DIVA cruise on the Summer of 1994 ( R/V NADIR with submersible NAUTILE of IFREMER, France), on MARVEL cruise on the summer 1997 ( R/V ATALANTE with the submersible NAUTILE of IFREMER) and on the R/V ATLANTIS cruise on the summer 1997, with the submersible ALVIN from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA.

In 1997, on the scope of AMORES project we organized several cruises with R/V ARQUIPÉLAGO to Menez Gwen and Lucky Strike.

Recent cruises proved the high interest and flexibility of a land based laboratory to develop experimental work on the physiology, ecology and biology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent organisms.

The research on deep-sea hydrothermal vents is supported by the following projects: EU - MAS3CT0040: AMORES - Azores Mid-Atlantic Ridge Ecosystem Studies: an integrated research program on deep-sea hydrothermal transfers and fluxes. And by EU - INTAS-94-0592: Biogeography and biodiversity of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps: an international co-operative study.