Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 43: A Little Bit Science Now

StLF and MYKA knew the ironies of this first unsuccessful expedition by Ned Land and Sir Steven.   First of all, no ocean rifts were anywhere close to the southern shores of Australia, in the locations of the western region of Perth, and the southern region of Melbourne and Victoria's mines.   In the 1960's with observations from space orbits, the theories of plate tectonics would take off as a new field of science.   The scientific community had been literally in the dark about the causes of the strange vents of steam that spewed forth from both land and sea.  One day it would be understood that the vents happen at the places where the continental plates collide or separate or in other ways expose magma from the earth's mantle.

As it turns out, the Australian Plate, the layer of crust on which sits Australia, extends far, far out beyond Australia's shores.   Its southern boundary is the Southeastern Indian Ridge, located halfway between the continent of Australia and the continent of Antarctica.   A better place to search would have been near New Zealand, but that was for Ned and Sir Steven to discover much later.   Fortunately, New Zealand does have gold and still has it to this day and tourists are invited to pan for it.  But it is doubtful that today's miners are using equipment of the Steam Age.

Another irony was that StLF's dad had a small role in the helping with the development of the hydrothermal plume recorders being used today.  He worked with a team at the Pacific Marine Environment Laboratory.  The hydrothermal plume recorders were given the name "Miniature Autonomous Plume Recorder", or "MAPR", for short, and pronounced "mapper".

These modern-day steam mappers are housed in a titanium cylinder and hung on a fiber-optic tow cable and lowered to the ocean floor to be used with SONAR and submersibles.   They have fancy electronics and batteries, but fundamentally they are recording and detecting the same information as Sir Steven's primitive steam mapper did more than 100 years ago.  Knowing who suggested the name "MAPR" always brings a smile, when StLF shares the story.

The other irony is that the inspiration to create devices to seek out steam vents, came from the very early work done in Iceland.   Iceland's pioneers first put vents from the earth's crust to work in industrial ways that would benefit all of its inhabitants.

In more recent years, the energy is used primarily by a few large companies in the business of processing aluminum.  While having some important products to export to other countries sounds good for Iceland's economy, there are some serious environmental problems created by the aluminum smelting and manufacturing industry.

The most serious problem is the amount of sulfur by-products created by these companies. These pollutants are fouling the air and water.  Many Icelanders resent that a few private companies are getting vast amounts of low-cost energy to the detriment of their society's health.

A few protest groups have grown more militant and fear that their shores are being exploited by nations traveling in international waters, who are more interested in profitable industrial use of the steam vents, than they are in protecting the environment.   They stage formal protest events and form organizations and tactical teams to confront any suspicious explorations.  Just as other groups have tried to intervene ships that are whaling or netting fish in illegal practices, these groups have turned to confrontations on the open seas.

StLF's father's first Mid-Atlantic ridge explorations brought him into direct conflict with Icelanders who misunderstood the purpose of the research vessel's work, leading to a heated confrontation.  It was his first exposure to a growing trend of organizations who took actions out on the open seas to thwart what they saw as counterproductive to their views.

The views might be "world views", or selfish intentions favoring one country or one company or one small group of pirates.  The actions often took a violent turn.   These actions in turn, impeded the progress of scientific exploration and advances.   They were also impacting the livelihood of poorer nations, and the safety of many innocent voyagers who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  For example, Somali pirates were once a serious problem for shipping companies but pleasure yachts were also vulnerable.

Stef's dad served on the research team of a prominent well-known organization.  The Icelandic incident was kept hush-hush.  Stef knew the whole story.  But that was a story for another day.

During the voyage to the undisclosed destination in a remote location, Stef had time to reflect on the admonishments of the lead crew members, who lectured on proper protocol when being approached by other vessels.   As Stef rested in the narrow bunk, the thoughts of the changed climate became a continuing worry.

Not the climate change as in "global warming", but the change of the political climate worldwide in respecting the peaceful intentions of research scientists.  Distrust between nations and companies and activists had mounted to the degree of "The Cold War" of the 1950s and 1960s. Only more so.  More nations, more companies, more activists with more technology, more funding, and more reasons to spy on one another.