More than 2000 members from 27 countries fuel InterRidge (IR) with energy and diverse expertise in the study of one of Earth’s most dynamic features: oceanic spreading centers. International and interdisciplinary collaboration is a part of daily life for many oceanographic research groups, but IR is a bit different by virtue of the extent to which it brings together so many scientists who speak so many different languages: geophysics, chemistry, genetics, engineering, microbiology, physical oceanography, physiology, petrology, ecology, and others, all spoken in the dialects of modelers and empiricists, observationalists, and experimentalists. Since its inception in 1992, IR has coordinated and enhanced what used to be limited partnerships and raised the international profile of ridge research in the process. In the last four years, IR fostered development of new national ridge programs in China, Korea, India, and Germany; played an instrumental role in launching the exploration and study of the Arctic, Southwest Indian, and southern Mid-Atlantic ridge systems; and spearheaded an education outreach program.

Devey, C.W., C.R. Fisher, and K.M. Kusek. 2007. From the Guest Editors: Introduction to the InterRidge special issue. Oceanography 20(1):12–13, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2007.95.

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