摘要：

We have estimated the heat flux from black smoker vents on the Juan de Fuca Ridge to evaluate their importance for heat transfer from young oceanic crust. The velocity and temperature of smoker effluent were measured from the manned submersible Alvin within a few centimeters of vent orifices, using a turbine flowmeter with an attached temperature probe. Exit velocity was calculated from a simple plume model, and vent orifices were measured in photographs and video records. The estimated power output from smokers alone is 49±13 MW for the Plume site, Vent 1 and Vent 3 on the southern Cleft segment near 45°N; 364±73 MW for the main vent field on the Endeavour Segment near 48°N; and 122±61 MW for the Tubeworm field 2 km north. The estimates for the Cleft and Tubeworm fields could be too low because of undiscovered vents. These values constitute only 4% to 14% of the total advective heat flux estimated for these vent fields from measurements in the nonbuoyant plume and of diffuse flow at the seafloor, indicating that most of the heat advected at these hydrothermal vent sites is carried by diffuse rather than focused flow. Values for individual smokers vary from 0.1 to 94 MW, with an average of 6.2 MW at the Endeavour field and 3.1 MW at the Cleft field. Our estimates agree well at all scales with those of Bemis et al. [1993] based on measurements made during the same dives, in some cases simultaneously, up to 50 m high in the buoyant plume. The good agreement between the two techniques implies that little diffuse flow at either high or low temperature is incorporated into the buoyant plumes generated by smokers at these sites. Velocity-temperature measurements at vents excavated by Alvin could not be modeled successfully, suggesting that vent structures may grow in equilibrium with the force of the exiting water such that orifice size is determined by volume flux. At the Endeavour field the heat flux is focused by faults.

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