A numerical perspective on Nature authors.

At the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in New Zealand, Cornel de Ronde leads the offshore minerals programme, conducting research on submarine volcanoes. De Ronde spends three to four weeks at sea each year, surveying volcanoes and collecting samples.

Survey work is tough, he says. He does 12-hour shifts, often at night in pitching, rolling seas, with lots of noise and little privacy. But it can be very rewarding. The field is still in its infancy and, as such, offers its participants the opportunity to witness things never seen before. A striking example is the discovery of an erupting submarine volcano, witnessed by de Ronde and his colleagues during the 2004 Ring of Fire expedition to the Mariana arc, and detailed in their paper in Nature this week (see page 494).

US$600,000 is spent annually by de Ronde's volcano research project.

17 authors from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Japan contributed to the paper describing submarine volcanic activity published in Nature this week.

15 submissions to Nature this year have come from New Zealand (<1% of all submissions).

42 days is the longest de Ronde has spent surveying volcanoes at sea.