Seamount named in honor of late Earth Sciences professor Jasper Konter

Jasper Konter, former professor of Earth Sciences, is recognized globally for his research in using isotope geochemistry and mantle seismology to confirm the deep origin of mantle plumes, to show that materials that were once subducted in the ancient geologic past are returned again to the surface by rising mantle plumes, and for establishing the role of long-lived, plume-fed hotspots in generating volcano chains across the Pacific over the past 100 million years. Konter Ridge was first surveyed in 1987, a second time in 2009, and most recently in January 2024 aboard the UH vessel R/V Kilo Moana, where David Sandwell (UCSD), Jake Perez (UCSD), and Captain David Martin (UH) proposed this name to honor their friend and colleague.