“That’s partly because we know exactly where to go because of the mapping.”

Revolving scientists

Each separate project has its own crew that takes turns on a newly built aluminum boat provided by the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, piloted by GFOE founder David Lovalvo. All told there are about 30 individuals who will cycle through Yellowstone National Park over the next three years to work on each project.

“Planning all of the people coming and going, I’m like a travel agent,” Sohn joked.

But there’s nowhere he’d rather be. In fact, the project was born out of a discussion he had with the scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, Jake Lowenstern, when they were both in the nation’s first national park. Sohn was studying Lone Star Geyser in 2008-09 when a “major earthquake swarm” swept through the lake.

“The immediate question was: How did that affect the lake vents?” Sohn said. “No one had been there since 2005.”

So Lowenstern suggested Sohn put a seismometer on the lake floor to measure the activity.