A series of computer experiments will be performed to explore heat transfer mechanisms close to the critical point of the H2O system. Many studies are now using dated equations of state whose quality is especially suspect in the near critical region; the proposed experiments will either confirm their utility or demonstrate that they are woefully inadequate. The role of the critical point may be far more profound than previously thought; conditions in hydrothermal systems may even be predictable by very simple formulations, thereby reducing enormous numerical computations to routing calculations. Previous complications may be a consequence of numerical inaccuracies caused by amplification of errors in the convection term in the equations in the region of nonlinear fluid properties. In other words, this work may result in improvement and simplification of models used to represent ore-forming and geothermal systems in an important temperature-pressure region.
