TREET principal investigator Chris German participates in the first dive of the project’s field research program in the southern Caribbean via live telepresence link from the Coleman and Susan Burke Operations Room at WHOI. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Part of a massive chemosynthetic mussel bed discovered during the TREET cruise with the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hercules. (Screen capture of live video feed from E/V Nautilus)

The remotely operated vehicle system consisting of Argus (left) and Hercules (right) wait to be deployed from the deck of E/V Nautilus.

Scientists and students monitor a dive from the Inner Space Center at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Campus during the TREET cruise.

Alexandra Stote from Harvard University (left), together with Silas Whitley and Taylor Westlund from the University of Idaho monitor a dive aboard E/V Nautilus via live telepresence link from the Coleman and Susan Burke Operations Room at WHOI. (Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

ROV Hercules measuring temperatures of up to 54°C (130°F) in fluids flowing from locations on the seafloor surrounded by white microbial mats in the crater of the Kick’em Jenny volcano. (Screen capture of live video feed from E/V Nautilus)