A Vermont man who’s now a graduate student at MIT is part of a North Pole expedition exploring an undersea ledge that separates two tectonic plates.
Chris Murphy, a 24-year-old graduate of BFA Fairfax, is helping program and operate a pair of underwater robotic vehicles that are looking for new species of sea life during the expedition to a place called Gakkel Ridge.
The 40-day-long expedition, which is being conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, consists of 30 researchers and support staff who are riding aboard a Swedish icebreaker.
They’ll use the underwater vehicles to probe the ocean floor for hydrothermal “vents” that discharge superheated water and minerals.