Expeditions by Topic
NOAA Ocean Exploration supports research expeditions to explore previously unvisited areas of the ocean. We provide partnership coordination, funding, staff, tools, and expertise needed to develop mission plans that deliver rigorous, systematic observations and documentation of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and archaeological aspects of the ocean. Follow NOAA Ocean Exploration-supported expeditions, including those on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, while they are underway or trace the activities and discoveries of past expeditions by clicking on the expedition-specific links below. For each expedition, you'll find information ranging from expedition plans and feature stories to educational materials and expedition daily updates, videos, and images.
Expeditions that took place prior to 2010 are archived here.
In addition to browsing expeditions by topic below, you can also browse expeditions by location or by year.
Access data collected during past expeditions via the NOAA Ocean Exploration Data Atlas.
Browse Expeditions by Topic
From coral ecosystems to marine archaeology and seafloor mapping, find ocean explorations that pique your interest by selecting from the topics below.
All
Canyon & Seamount Habitats
Coral Communities
Seeps, Vents, & Volcanoes
Seafloor Mapping
Technology
Maritime Heritage
Arctic
2024
During an expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus in September 2024, a research team tested a prototype of an algorithm to enable autonomous underwater vehicles to locate seafloor fluid flow sites using real-time sensor data to trace biogeochemistry signatures in the water column indicative of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.
2024
From September 23-27, 2024, a team of scientists and engineers successfully demonstrated the first ever autonomous, near real-time, directional acoustic profiling float powered by marine renewable energy (ocean thermal energy conversion, OTEC).
2024
An exciting effort will take place in October 2024 to expand the capabilities of uncrewed systems in order to support NOAA missions to map, characterize, and explore the submerged waters of the United States.
2024
From July 17-27, 2024, researchers conducted synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) and multibeam surveys, focusing on 11 locations around Attu, with water depths ranging from 15 meters (~40 feet) to 90 meters (~300 feet). The acoustic imaging was complimented by 21 deployments of the camera-equipped remotely operated vehicle (ROV), sent to photograph sonar targets of interest.
2024
From May 12-21, 2024, researchers investigated the pelagic diversity in the Gulf of Alaska using a novel, multipronged exploration program that included acoustic, photographic, video, and physical and molecular (DNA) inventories of the small animals (zooplankton and micronekton), like fish, crustaceans, gelatinous animals, and squid, in the water column.
2024
From April 10-21, 2024, a team of researchers explored and documented marine habitats in deepwater areas around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The goal of the expedition was to collect marine organisms (e.g., sponges, corals, and microorganisms) that may contain natural products that can be developed into useful pharmaceutical products.
2024
Between May and December 2024, Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus will be used to explore deep-ocean habitats in the central, western, and eastern Pacific Ocean and integrate emerging exploration technologies into its operations.
2024
A total of six Beyond the Blue expeditions on Okeanos Explorer will take place in 2024, from May through November. As this year marks the return of Okeanos Explorer to the central Pacific region following work on the ship in the region in 2015-2017, efforts this year will focus on mapping deep waters of Hawaiʻi and Johnston Atoll.
2023
From June 5 - 23, 2023, an expedition team will perform field trials to test and validate new methodologies for the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to search for and survey shipwreck sites in Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
2023
From November 30 - December 8, 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted an expedition off the coast of California to conduct mapping operations and test technologies for exploring our ocean. During the expedition, testing of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) Eagle Ray and Mola Mola, started during the previous expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, continued in partnership with the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
2023
From August 18 to August 29, 2023, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) and Oceaneering, embarked on a mission aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to explore how historic shipwrecks shape deep-sea microbiomes.
2023
From October 21 to November 11, 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration will lead an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer off central California and in and around the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The primary goals of the expedition are to test autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operations and learn more about the biology and geology of the proposed sanctuary. There will not be any remotely operated vehicle dives during this expedition.
2023
The Seascape Alaska 5 expedition started on August 23 and concluded on September 16. The team worked to fill gaps in our understanding of the region by conducting focused mapping and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations focused on deep waters greater than 200 meters (656 feet) for mapping operations and 250 meters (820 feet) for ROV operations in U.S. waters, the high seas, and Canadian waters off Alaska.
2023
From August 15 to September 15, 2023, a team of researchers explored the nearshore area off La Push, Washington, in search of shipwrecks, and one in particular: Svyatoy Nikolai, a historically significant survey vessel for the Russian-American Company.
2023
From August 14-18, 2023, a team of engineers and scientists tested two low-cost, open-source, underwater vehicle systems developed to help advance the protection of deep-sea coral ecosystems. They also captured images of coral to generate photometric 3D reconstructions of the seafloor and to develop automatic annotation software for the detection and classification of corals.
2023
From August 11 to 13, 2023, a team of researchers visited known methane seeps off the coast of Washington to test their new approach to mapping and characterizing methane seeps over wide areas. With easily deployable and relatively inexpensive autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with imaging sonars and custom sensors, they successfully located and mapped seeps and measured associated bubbles and dissolved methane right at their source and up through the water column.
2023
While conducting the 17-day Seascape Alaska 4: Gulf of Alaska Deepwater Mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners mapped more than 24,000 square kilometers (9,265 square miles) of seafloor in the Gulf of Alaska, increasing mapping coverage in a largely unexplored region of our nation's Exclusive Economic Zone.
2023
From July 14 - July 25, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted the third in a series of Seascape Alaska expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.
2023
From June 5 - 20, 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to map 37,601 square kilometers (14,518 square miles) of seafloor in unexplored regions of the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands.
2023
From May 15-June 4, 2022, and May 24-June 10, 2023, a team of Indigenous Alaskans, local community members, and scientists explored the continental shelf west of Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. Their goal was to locate submerged cave and rock shelter entrances that would have been accessible to early inhabitants of the region.
2023
From May 5 - 26, 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to map nearly 54,000 square kilometers (20,850 square miles) of seafloor in unexplored regions of the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands.
2023
From April 22 to May 14, 2023, researchers searched for, investigated, and documented remains of the World War II (WWII) Battle for Saipan’s underwater battlefield, including aircraft and amphibious vehicles.
2023
Between April and December 2023, Ocean Exploration Trust will use Exploration Vessel Nautilus to map and explore deep-sea habitats in the central and eastern Pacific and to integrate emerging exploration technologies into its operations. The 2023 Nautilus field season is sponsored primarily by NOAA Ocean Exploration through the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
2023
In order to prepare for upcoming 2023 operations and further our understanding of deep waters off California, Oregon, and Washington, NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted 9 remotely operated vehicle dives, collected a total of 92 biological and geological samples, and mapped the seafloor during the 2023 Shakedown + EXPRESS West Coast Exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.
2023
In 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration will spend over 160 days at sea on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer while exploring the waters off the U.S. west coast and Alaska.
2023
From March 3-April 11, 2023, a team of researchers searched for new examples of serpentinization-driven hydrothermal venting on the seafloor near the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This was the first expedition on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor (too).
2023
From January 27-February 25, 2023, a team of researchers started their search for submerged shipwrecks, aircraft, amphibious vehicles, artillery and other artifacts related to the 1944 invasion of Guam during World War II. From July 27 to August 23, 2023, returned to the field to explore targets they identified during their earlier visit.
2023
From May 2022 through May 2024, a team of researchers will apply the emerging technology, environmental DNA or eDNA, to explore and characterize deep-sea coral communities in the remote tropical Pacific Ocean.
2023
From January 2-12, 2023, a team of researchers carried out a multipronged expedition to explore and develop best practices for collecting materials from submerged tar seeps and surrounding sediment.
2022
Recognizing the importance of seeps and the significant potential for further seep discovery, a research team has been developing an efficient and cost-effective machine learning-based software system to automatically detect seafloor gas seeps (i.e., cold seeps) in mapping sonar water column data.
2022
In 2022, a multi-institutional team of scientists and engineers completed a NOAA Ocean Exploration grant-funded project that focused on developing a sophisticated “co-exploration model” of human-robot interaction as a means of advancing and accelerating autonomous ocean exploration.
2022
In 2021, scientists and engineers at the Ocean Engineering Department of University of Rhode Island successfully developed and demonstrated a novel soft robotic system for underwater exploration with support from NOAA Ocean Exploration.
2022
From October 16 - November 3, 2022, NOAA Ocean Exploration will conduct an exploratory expedition to increase mapping coverage in unexplored regions off the coasts of California and Oregon, with a focus on waters deeper than 200 meters (656 feet). The expedition will commence with a transit northwest from San Diego, California, in order to reach target areas for mapping in a small region south of the Channel Islands and off the west coasts of California and Oregon.
2022
From July 31-August 12, 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and NOAA Ocean Exploration explored a site on the Blake Plateau offshore of the Georgia coast. The specific purpose of the expedition was to better understand the long-term environmental impacts on the seafloor of experimental deep-sea resource-extraction technologies used at the site in the 1970s and generally any implications for potential similar deep-sea activities.
2022
Between May 26 - June 14, 2022, a team of scientists will explore Escanaba Trough, about 200 miles off the coast of northern California, in order to characterize the hydrothermal sulfide system within the trough.
2022
In 2018, scientists developed and successfully tested advanced equipment for collecting water samples at great ocean depths while accounting for the impacts of pressure and temperature on deep-sea microbes found in such an environment.
2022
From May 23-June 3, an expedition team will use autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to explore Lake Huron’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. They will generate large datasets for training and validating machine learning models for shipwreck detection using sonar imagery.
2022
From May 15-June 4, 2022, and May 24-June 10, 2023, a team of Indigenous Alaskans, local community members, and scientists explored the continental shelf west of Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. Their goal was to locate submerged cave and rock shelter entrances that would have been accessible to early inhabitants of the region.
2022
May through August 2022, NOAA and partners will conduct Voyage to the Ridge 2022, a series of three telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer that will include mapping operations and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives to collect baseline information about unexplored and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Azores Plateau.
2022
To understand how deep-sea corals respond to changes in ocean conditions such as ocean warming, deoxygenation, and acidification, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Florida State University, and Florida Atlantic University carried out two expeditions on Research Vessel (R/V) Point Sur in October 2019 and on R/V Hogarth in September 2020.
2022
From October 1 to 10, 2019, scientists from three institutions - Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science - sailed on Research Vessel Point Sur in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
2022
August 2022 - February 2023, a public-private partnership used an uncrewed surface vessel to collect ocean mapping and environmental data in high-priority unexplored waters around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the coast of California.
2022
From May 1 - 14, 2022, scientists from the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute will conduct an expedition to explore coral and sponge habitats within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and nearby areas in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico in order to assess their potential for biopharmaceutical products.
2022
From April 7 - May 1, as part of the Luʻuaeaahikiikekumu - Ancient Seamounts of Liliʻuokalani Ridge expedition on Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel Nautilus, a team of researchers will explore seamounts of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to provide baseline information about the mineral resource potential of the seamounts and the animals and microbes that live on them.
2022
From April 6-19, 2022, a team of researchers used emerging technologies to explore deepwater habitats off the coast of Puerto Rico that are poorly explored, yet likely host a wide variety of marine life.
2022
April 4 - 28, NOAA Ocean Exploration led an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. The two-fold purpose of this expedition is to fill mapping gaps in the Atlantic’s U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and test deep-sea camera operations.
2022
Between March and October, Ocean Exploration Trust will use Exploration Vessel Nautilus to explore the waters of the central Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian Islands, in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
2022
From March 10 - 28, 2022, NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted an exploratory ocean mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer focused on U.S. waters south of Puerto Rico generally deeper than 200 meters (656 feet).
2022
In preparation for our 2022 field season, NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted a “shake down” of the mission systems on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the Gulf of Mexico and the western Straits of Florida February 23-March 3, 2022.
2022
From February 24-March 11, 2022, a team of researchers explored the waters off Tinian and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands to locate and document U.S. warplanes lost during World War II.
2022
In 2022, NOAA Ocean Exploration will spend more than 200 days at sea while exploring two ocean basins. From February through early August, NOAA Ocean Exploration will continue operations in the deep waters of the North Atlantic Ocean on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. After we wrap up our work in the Atlantic, we’ll transit through the Panama Canal and kick off our return to the Pacific with a series of expeditions along the U.S. West Coast this fall.
2021
From November 14 - December 6, 2021, as part of the Luʻuaeahikiikapapakū - Ancient Volcanoes in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus, a team of researchers examined microbial ecosystem services and microbe-mineral interactions on the seamounts of the monument to provide baseline information about the mineral resource potential of the seamounts and the animals that live on them in order to inform management and conservation of the area.
2021
From October 26 to November 15, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical information about unexplored and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Blake Plateau region of the North Atlantic Ocean.
2021
From September 25 - October 5, 2021, the project team conducted geophysical surveys aboard the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Research Vessel Bob and Betty Beyster, focusing on regions of the eastern Pacific continental shelf that contain tar seeps, paleochannel, and possible paleoestuaries.
2021
This expedition included mapping the Alpena-Amberley Ridge within Lake Huron to identify potential archaeological or paleoenvironmental sites for further investigation with a remotely operated vehicle and divers in order to create a virtual reality reconstruction of the area when it was dryland and occupied by early humans.
2021
This underwater archaeological investigation of the Paleo-Suwannee River channel and its surroundings is expected to yield critical new information about potential sites of cultural heritage, which might contribute to the area being considered an Underwater Archaeological Preserve.
2021
August 27 - September 20, 2021: A team from the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab carried out an expedition to collect data for developing new acoustics-based methodologies using gliders.
2021
August 15 - September 28, 2021: NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted two telepresence-enabled exploratory ocean mapping expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. These expeditions included 24-hour-a-day acoustic exploration mapping operations in areas generally deeper than 200 meters (656 feet) in U.S. waters off the east coast, with a focus on the Blake Plateau.
2021
August 18 - September 5, 2021: A team comprised of German, Italian, and American scientists and archaeologists embarked on a three-week expedition to search for SS Norlindo, an American steam freighter sunk on May 4, 1942, off of the Dry Tortugas by the German U-boat U-507. The sinking of Norlindo marked the first World War II combat casualties in the Gulf of Mexico.
2021
July 28 - August 20, 2021: From July 28 to August 20, 2021, an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries conducted autonomous survey and exploration of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary and the proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary July 28-August 20.
2021
July - August 2021: A multi-institutional science team set sail aboard the R/V Point Sur from Gulfport, Mississippi and head towards DeSoto Canyon. The objectives of this mission, funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration, were to deploy two different autonomous sensor platforms developed as part of this project: National Geographic Society’s Driftcam and the Teledyne Webb Research Slocum glider.
2021
July - December 2021: The Ocean Exploration Trust used Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to explore the waters along the North American West Coast from British Columbia to Southern California and west to the Hawaiian Islands and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
2021
June 30 - July 29, 2021: NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas off the eastern U.S. coast and high seas.
2021
June 14 - 27, 2021: Archaeologists and ecologists from the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) and the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), with funding support from NOAA Ocean Exploration, conducted an exploratory marine archaeological remote sensing and diving survey to locate and characterize archaeological sites within an area of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) known as the “Quicksands,” located west of Key West, Florida.
2021
June 13 - June 27, 2021: NOAA Ocean Exploration conducted a shakedown of its dual-body remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) Deep Discoverer and Seirios on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the Atlantic Ocean between Norfolk, Virginia, and Newport, Rhode Island. The expedition will include engineering test dives in water depths up to approximately 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). ROV dives will be conducted during the day with overnight mapping operations.
2021
June 10 - June 20, 2021: For nearly two decades, NOAA Ocean Exploration, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program, the U.S. Coast Guard, and a number of academic research partners have been engaged in a search for the final resting place of U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear.
2021
May 14 - May 27, 2021: From May 14-27, 2021, NOAA Ocean Exploration led the 2021 Technology Demonstration on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Norfolk, Virginia. The expedition provided an opportunity to test several technologies that will allow the ocean exploration community to explore deeper, farther, and more comprehensively than previously possible.
2021
April 16 - May 10, 2021: The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research began the 2021 operations aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer with a 25-day expedition to assess the functionality and ensure readiness of mapping-related equipment, including a new state-of-the-art EM 304 multibeam sonar transducer.
2021
April - September 2021: The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research embarked on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to conduct exploration work in the North Atlantic Ocean.
2020
October to November 2020: The deep sea is a vast reserve of mystery and possibility. The residents of the deep sea, and the minerals that compose its floor, are of growing importance to modern society. Microorganisms offer significant biopharmaceutical and industrial promises and some of deep-sea minerals are increasingly rare and in-demand.
2020
September 2020: In this expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus, we aimed to explore how methane seeps interact with ocean systems and seek out expanding avenues in an ocean blue economy future.
2020
September to December 2020: The Ocean Exploration Trust, in partnership with the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and Ocean Networks Canada, used Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to explore little-known regions along the North American West Coast from British Columbia to Southern California.
2020
July to August 2020: A team of researchers led by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in partnership with the National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science explored Wimble Shoals, located adjacent to Rodanthe, North Carolina.
2020
June 2020: This expedition's objective was to add more information about the environment in which early Gulf coast inhabitants would have lived.
2020
August-December 2020: Nearly 60,000 years ago, a bald cypress forest flourished on the banks of a prehistoric river near the Gulf of Mexico. Now, a team of scientists from Northeastern University and the University of Utah, funded by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), are working to unlock the forest’s secrets, including its potential to harbor new compounds for medicine and biotechnology.
2020
October 2019 - September 2020: The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research embarked on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to conduct three regional expeditions starting with the U.S. Southeastern Continental Margin, moving to the Northern Caribbean, and finally, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Azores.
2019
October - November 2019: NOAA and partners conducted mapping and remotely operated vehicle operations to collect baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Southeastern U.S. continental margin.
2019
October-November 2019: NOAA, the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management conducted a 29-day expedition to explore along the California, Oregon, and Washington coasts.
2019
October 2019: NOAA conducted systematic ocean mapping operations in U.S. federal waters offshore from Georgia and Florida, in a region called the Blake Plateau.
2020
Fall 2019: In the fall of 2019, capitalizing on existing hydrographic survey contract mechanisms through NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) and the National Oceanographic Partnership Program funded the geodata specialist company Fugro to conduct a survey in the Blake Plateau region off the coasts of Georgia and Florida.
2019
September-October 2019: A team of oceanographers participated in a voyage of discovery to explore in detail for the first time a hydrothermal vent field in the Arctic Ocean.
2020
September 2019: A team of ocean scientists and engineers from Lehigh University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution used NOAA Research Vessel R/V MANTA and the newly developed autonomous underwater vehicle Mesobot to collect environmental DNA in order to explore the biodiversity of deepwater ecosystems near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
2019
September 2019: NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear, which has a rich history of nearly 80 years of meritorious service.
2019
August-September 2019: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore deepwater areas of the U.S. and Canadian Atlantic continental margin.
2019
July-August 2019: Scientists tested two autonomous sampling platforms in waters of the West Florida Shelf that may permit access to the deepwater habitats and allow the study of organisms that comprise scattering layers in the Gulf of Mexico without the need to interfere or capture the animals.
2019
July-August 2019: Scientists will study the benthic (seafloor) communities of seamounts in the North Pacific to determine if/how water masses influence the difference in deepwater fauna between the Aleutians and Hawaii.
2019
July-August 2019: A multi-disciplinary and international team sailed to the Gulf of Alaska Seamounts region to collect data to help us better understand the diversity of marine life in this underexplored region.
2019
July-August 2019: NOAA and partners conducted a mission on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to demonstrate, test, and evaluate five emerging and existing technologies for possible integration into NOAA operations.
2019
June-July 2019: Scientists characterized two unexplored, wooden-hulled shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico and studied the microbial stowaways living secretly on and around them.
2019
June 2019: A team of researchers made observations and collected samples for further study on the characterization of visual systems, bioluminescence, and fluorescence of organisms living in the bathypelagic (midnight) zone.
2019
June 2019: Scientists conducted remote sensing and sub-bottom profiler surveys to determine if people were living along the now-submerged northwestern Gulf of Mexico and coastal Texas and Louisiana as early as 13,000 years ago.
2020
May and September 2019: Blue holes are underwater sinkholes, similar to sink holes on land. They vary in size, shape and depth, but most are ecological hot spots with a high diversity of abundance of plants and animals.
2019
May - July 2019: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas of the southeastern United States.
2019
May 2019: On May 12, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer set sail for a 13-day shakedown and sea-trial expedition in the Gulf of Mexico and made an exciting discovery during an "enginnering dive."
2019
May - October 2019: Scientists will use the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to document and survey unexplored regions along the West Coast of the United States and in the Central Pacific, including American Samoa and U.S. Territorial Islands.
2019
April - May 2019: Scientists investigated population connectivity for key coral, sponge, and fish species between shallow and mesophotic reefs in and around Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
2019
April 2019: NOAA and partners conducted a research expedition to collect critical baseline information about deepwater habitats offshore the U.S. Mid- and South Atlantic coasts.
2018
November - December 2018: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and partners conducted telepresence-enabled mapping and remotely operated vehicle dives in the deep waters of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
2018
October - November 2018: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information on unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
2018
October 2018: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted a 24-day exploratory mapping expedition to collect critical data for the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project, targeting priority areas northeast of the Bahamas.
2018
October 2018 - September 2019: NOAA and partners will conduct multiple expeditions to map and explore poorly known deepwater areas across the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
2018
August - September 2018: Scientists explored Lō`ihi Seamount to investigate whether this underwater volcano can serve as an analog of possible hydrothermal systems on the seafloor of Enceladus and other Ocean World systems.
2018
August - September 2018: NOAA and partners conducted a research expedition to collect critical baseline information about deepwater habitats offshore the U.S. Mid- and South Atlantic.
2018
July-August 2018: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted a 24-day exploratory mapping expedition to collect critical baseline information about an unknown and poorly understood deepwater priority area southeast of Bermuda.
2018
July 2018: This team built on existing archaeological and historical data to explore the underwater battlefield of Kiska Island, Alaska, which is one of the least studied, yet most significant sites of World War II.
2018
2018 - 2020: The Atlantic Seafloor Partnership for Integrated Research and Exploration, or ASPIRE, is a collaborative ocean exploration field program focused on the North Atlantic Ocean.
2018
May - July 2018: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Southeastern United States.
2018
June - September 2018: Between June 27 and September 26, 2018, a team surveyed five areas of Lake Huron within and adjacent to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuar, searching for lost World War II training aircraft.
2018
June - November 2018: Scientists used the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to document and survey unexplored regions from British Columbia, Canada, along the West Coast of the United States, and the Hawaiian Islands.
2018
May - June 2018: The DeepCCZ Project used the best-available technology in deep-sea ecological, taxonomic, and connectivity studies to study deep-sea biodiversity in the western Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the central Pacific Ocean.
2018
April - May 2018: A multidisciplinary team aboard the Research Vessel Falkor journeyed to an open patch in the Pacific Ocean known as the “White Shark Café” to study one of the most iconic predators in the ocean: The white shark.
2018
April - May 2018: NOAA and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
2018
March - April 2018: This project was the first of its kind in Peleliu to explore the landing beaches and fringing reef by conducting a comprehensive, systematic remote sensing search for the material remains from this forgotten battlefield.
2018
March - April 2018: The Gulf of Mexico Technology Demonstration was the first operational cruise on board NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in 2018, during which we conducted our first emerging technology demonstration projects.
2018
October 2017 - September 2018: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer returned to the Atlantic Ocean and conducted a series of expeditions to continue exploration of the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic.
2017
November - December 2017: A team of scientists and technicians, both at-sea and shore-based, conducted exploratory investigations into the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and associated marine communities in the Gulf of Mexico basin.
2017
November 2017: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted an exploratory mapping expedition from Panama City, Panama, to Key West, Florida.
2017
October - November 2017: The goal of this expedition was to provide the first glimpse of the deepwater communities within the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site on Earth, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.
2017
September 2017: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas around the Musicians Seamounts and the Hawaiian Islands.
2017
September 2017: Scientists used a combination of mapping with water column profiling and sampling to improve knowledge of the geology along the U.S. continental margin, the types of communities found on the seafloor, and the mid-water communities that interact with those seafloor communities.
2017
August 2017: Operations during the expedition included focused mapping and strategic mapping transits by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer within the waters of Hawaii and in international waters at the Musician Seamounts chain.
2017
August 2017: NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science led an expedition aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to map, survey, and sample deep-sea coral ecosystems in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic Bight.
2017
July - August 2017: NOAA and partners conducted an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to continue collecting critical baseline information about unknown and poorly known deepwater areas in the Johnston Atoll Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
2017
June 2017: A team of scientists aboard NOAA Ship Henry Bigelow spent 15 days at sea exploring canyon and slope habitats off the coast of the Northeast U.S. and Canada and sites in the Gulf of Maine with the Canadian remotely operated vehicle, ROPOS.
2017
May - June 2017: The R/V F.G. Walton Smith circumnavigated Cuba, conducting daily remotely operated vehicle dives to focus on the mesophotic reef in order to discover and characterize the extent of mesophotic reefs in Cuba and to compare the health and connectivity (physical, genetic, and ecological) among the mesophotic and shallow coral reef systems in Cuba and the United States.
2017
May 2017: Scientists on the IMMeRSS (Interagency Mission for Methane Research at Seafloor Seeps) expedition focused on the geology, ecology, chemistry, and physics of methane seeps on the U.S. Mid-Atlantic margin between Baltimore Canyon and Hatteras Canyon at water depths of 400-1,600 meters.
2017
May 2017: Scientists explored sunken aircraft associated with the Battle of Midway, adding an important maritime heritage component to our understanding of the broader history of World War II in the Pacific.
2017
May - November 2017: The Ocean Exploration Trust conducted the third year of exploration in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on Exploration Vessel Nautilus, as scientists documented and surveyed unexplored regions from British Columbia, Canada, along the West Coast of the United States, and to Baja California, Mexico.
2017
April - May 2017: NOAA and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about deepwater areas as it transited across the northern portion of the Cook Islands, with focused work in the vicinity of both the Jarvis Island and Kingman/Palmyra units of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, prior to returning to Honolulu.
2017
April - July 2017: Over the course of a four-part expedition throughout the spring and summer of 2017, the sanctuary hosted a multifaceted, ongoing research project to apply new tools toward searching for undiscovered shipwrecks.
2017
April 2017: This is the second of two Okeanos Explorer cruises focused on exploring the waters of American Samoa and Samoa, and is the first of two cruises focused on exploring the waters of the Cook Islands.
2017
March 2017: NOAA and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly known deepwater areas in the Howland and Baker Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.
2017
February - April 2017: NOAA and partners conducted two telepresence-enabled ocean exploration cruises on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information of unknown and poorly known deepwater areas in American Samoa and Samoa.
2017
January - February 2017: This seafloor mapping expedition commenced on January 20, 2017, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and concluded on February 11 in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
2017
December 2016 - September 2017: A team of NOAA and external partners conducted the third year of the ‘Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE)’ field effort, deploying NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to investigate and document the diversity and distribution of deepwater environments in U.S. central Pacific waters, the high seas, and waters of several Pacific Island countries and territoies.
2016
December 2016: The Okeanos team conducted two at-sea "shakedown" cruises, to test all of the ship’s mission systems to ensure everything is performing properly and that the ship is fully ready for 2017 expeditions.
2016
November - December 2016: A team led by scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor traveled to the Mariana Back-arc, to explore newly discovered hydrothermal vents and the life they support.
2016
August - September 2016: Mapping efforts aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer focused on using the ship's deepwater sonar systems to explore several unnamed, previously unexplored seamounts near Wake Island.
2016
August - September 2016: A team of scientists and engineers aboard NOAA Ship Pisces explored three deepwater canyons off the coast of North Carolina.
2016
August - September 2016: The primary focus of this mission was to completely characterize the remains of a World War II Naval Battlefield.
2016
July - August 2016: NOAA and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration cruise on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information in and around the Wake Island Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
2016
July - August 2016: A team of scientists, media personnel, and educators sailed to the Arctic's Chukchi Borderlands onboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy.
2016
May - September 2016: E/V Nautilus explored sites sites from British Columbia and along the west coast of North America down to southern California.
2016
April - July 2016: NOAA and partners conducted a three-cruise expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information of unknown and poorly known areas in and around the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
2016
June 2016: A team used OpenROV submersibles to explore the SS Tahoe shipwreck.
2016
March - April 2016: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted 24-hour mapping operations to explore the largely unknown region surrounding the Wake Island Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
2016
March - April 2016: A University of Maine-led team conducted the first-ever deepwater exploration of Glacier Bay National Park using both diver-based surveys and a remotely operated vehicle.
2016
February - March 2016: Scientists continued 2015 Hohonu Moana expedition efforts to explore deep-water habitats in and around Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
2016
February 2016: The team conducted a of shakedown newly installed systems, tested data work flow and integration, and prepared for the rest of the field season.
2016
February - September 2016: A team of NOAA and external partners investigated and documented deep-water environments in and around the U.S. Marine National Monuments and other protected places in the Pacific.
2015
July - September 2015: A team of NOAA and external partners both at-sea and on shore conducted mapping and remotely operated vehicle operations in the deep waters of the Hawaiian Archipelago, including the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and Johnston Atoll.
2015
August - September 2015: Scientists conducted the final round of fieldwork as part of the Coral Ecosystem Connectivity 2015: From Pulley Ridge to the Florida Keys expedition.
2015
August 2015: This expedition brought the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ Maritime Heritage Program to the remote and challenging Alaska region for the first time in the more than four decades since the creation of the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
2015
July 2015: NOAA and partner scientists deployed a hydrophone within the Challenger Deep trough in the Mariana Trench to establish a baseline recording the ambient sound levels at the deepest point in the global ocean.
2015
July 2015: Scientists used combined expertise in bioluminescence, taxonomy, visual ecology, imaging and molecular biology, and the unique collecting capabilities and camera systems of the Global Explorer to continue studies of the deep-sea benthic environment in the Gulf of Mexico.
2015
July 2015 - September 2017: In July 2015, a team of NOAA and partners initiated the ‘Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE),' a multi-year effort focused on deepwater areas of U.S. marine protected areas in the Pacific.
2015
May - June 2015: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer journeyed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, exploring along the way. Okeanos Explorer will leave Puerto Rico to traverse the Western Caribbean, Panama Canal, and Eastern Pacific.
2015
February - April 2015: The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research led a three-leg expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore unknown and poorly known deepwater regions around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
2015
January 2015 - August 2016: Scientists used next-generation DNA sequencing technologies and cutting-edge bioinformatics approaches to enable the discovery and characterization of the largely unknown molecular diversity of microbes associated with Arctic sea ice and seafloor habitats.
2015
Spring 2015: Leading the state-of-the-art development of marine robotic 3D mapping for underwater archaeology, our University of Michigan-based team returned from an archaeological field expedition to the underwater city of Port Royal, Jamaica.
2015
April - September 2015: E/V Nautilus explored sites from the Gulf of Mexico to British Columbia. The season marked the transition of the vessel and operations to the west coast of the United States and the Pacific Ocean, concluding over two years of research in the Gulf and Caribbean regions.
2015
March - April 2015: This was the second of three exploration cruises of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the Caribbean in the 2015 field season. The primary focus of this cruise esd high-resolution mapping of areas near Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Trench.
2015
February - March 2015: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted a mapping expedition, beginning in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and ending in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2015
2015: Over a two-year period, a team from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez systematically tested, improved, and enhanced relatively low-cost free vehicles and free vehicle-supported research methods in shallow to abyssal depths.
2015
February - September 2015: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer embarked on a journey to investigate and document the Caribbean and the Hawaiian Islands.
2014
November - December 2014: Scientists traveled to the Submarine Ring of Fire to study iron-oxidizing bacteria at hydrothermal vents and how carbon dioxide from submarine volcanoes impacts nearby biological communities.
2014
September - October 2014: NOAA and University of New Hampshire scientists aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-operated Research Vessel Atlantis conducted a mapping expedition to the Mendocino Ridge off the coast of northern California.
2014
September 2014: Scientists on board the Exploration Vessel Nautilus visited several unexplored seamounts that punctuate the seafloor within the Caribbean Sea, uncovering information about geologic, biologic, and oceanographic processes.
2014
August - October 2014: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer explored the largely unknown deep-sea ecosystems of the U.S. Atlantic coast.
2014
July - August 2014: A team of maritime archaeologists from the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program embarked on a mission to discover the lost French Fleet of 1565.
2014
August 2014: This was the third year of a five-year study to investigate the role that the mesophotic reefs of Pulley Ridge may play in replenishing key fish species and other organisms in the downstream reefs of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
2014
June - October 2014: Exploration Vessel Nautilus embarked on a journey to document and research the regions of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
2014
May 2014: NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center worked with Boeing under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to explore the potential applicability of the large autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Echo Ranger for a rockfish survey.
2014
May 2014: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted a 16-day mapping expedition beginning in Tampa, Florida, and ending at the ship’s homeport of North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
2014
April - May 2014: Scientists on board the R/V Thompson, used the hybrid remotely operated vehicle, Nereus, to explore systematically for the first time the hadal Kermadec trench system and the neighboring abyssal plain in the Southwestern Pacific.
2014
February - May 2014: A team of scientists and technicians both at sea and on shore conducted exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.
2013
August 2013: The R/V F.G. Walton Smith and the M/V Spree combined efforts in the second year of a five-year study to investigate the role that the mesophotic reefs of Pulley Ridge may play in replenishing key fish species and other organisms in the downstream reefs of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.
2013
August 2013: This was the final cruise in a four-year project to study submarine canyons along the continental slope of the Middle Atlantic coast.
2013
July - August 2013: A team of scientists and technicians both at-sea and on shore conducted exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life along the Northeast U.S. Canyons and at Mytilus Seamount.
2013
July 2013: The Ocean Exploration Trust's Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus returned to investigate an early 19th century wooden shipwreck first explored by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in April 2012.
2013
June 2013: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted seafloor and water column mapping operations in the Western North Atlantic Ocean over a portion of the New England Seamount Chain.
2013
May - June 2013: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted mapping operations and testing of a new remotely operated vehicle off the East Coast of the United States.
2013
April - May 2013: Scientists on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown studied the biology of Norfolk Canyon, with some sampling in Baltimore Canyon and exploration of archaeological targets in and around the Norfolk Canyon area.
2013
March - April 2013: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted mapping operations within the Western North Atlantic Ocean as part of the annual ship shakedown.
2012
November 2012: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer operated in the North Atlantic Ocean, between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and the U.S.-Canadian territorial boundary.
2012
September 2012: See the highlights, including daily logs, images, and video, from a series of expeditions to explore the submarine volcanoes of the Western Pacific.
2012
August - September 2012: Learn how scientists conducted long-term research to better understand the causes and consequences of environmental change in the fragile Arctic environment.
2012
August - October 2012: Scientists aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster explored and characterized hard- and soft-bottom communities as well as shipwreck sites in canyons off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland.
2012
July - August 2012: Learn what scientists uncovered while on board Exploration Vessel Nautilus to explore the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea off the coasts of Turkey and Cyprus.
2012
July 2012: Scientists returned to two dive sites they visited in 2009, hoping to excavate late Pleistocene terrestrial sediments containing plants, animals, and perhaps artifacts from some of the first human beings to arrive in the New World.
2012
July 2012: Scientists aboard the Research Vessel Brooks McCall set off on their fifth and final expedition to investigate the deep-water coral communities of the Gulf of Mexico.
2012
April 2012: During a 10-day cruise on the Research Vessel Melville, scientists probed for strange new biological life forms, communities, and ecosystems dependent unknown conditions.
2012
March - April 2012: A team of scientists and technicians both at-sea and on shore conducted exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
2012
February - August 2012: A team of NOAA and external partners conducted a mapping ‘blitz’ focused on deepwater canyons off the northeastern seaboard.
2011
September 2011: This mapping cruise commenced on September 15th, departing Pascagoula, Mississippi for a strategically planned offshore route to Rhode Island.
2011
September 2011: Scientists on an interdisciplinary expedition explored the forgotten world of the Maya in the Yucatan along the tip of Quintana Roo.
2011
August – September 2011: Learn why the primary purpose of this expedition was to study the feasibility of using this capability to map gasses in the water column.
2011
August 2011: Scientists returned to four dive sites they visited in 2009 to study the biology, geology, and oceanography of a series of canyons off the middle Atlantic coast of the U.S.
2011
August 2011: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer traveled to the deepest part of the Caribbean Sea, where a team of international scientists both at-sea and on shore conducted interdisciplinary investigations of the Mid-Cayman Rise.
2011
July - November 2011: Scientists from a multi-institute initiative conducted ocean exploration projects in the Black, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas and the eastern Atlantic Ocean over a five-month period.
2011
July 2011: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer embarked on a unique expedition to one of the most fascinating areas of the world’s oceans to explore the water column and unexplored benthic environments in the Galápagos region.
2011
June 2011: Some of the world’s foremost technical divers used state-of-the-art equipment to explore Bermuda's deep water caves.
2011
June 2011: This project represented a major systematic exploration of submarine canyons on the continental margin of the eastern United States.
2011
March 2011: This expedition provided an opportunity to get NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer underway and ensure that all of its systems and equipment were fully operational prior to integration of the remotely operated vehicle on board.
2011
February - March 2011: In this deep-diving expedition to the Southern Pacific, scientists characterized deep-reef communities and began the task of assessing organisms for their biotechnology potential.
2010
October - November 2010: Scientists aboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown set off on their fourth expedition to investigate the deep-water coral communities of the Gulf of Mexico.
2010
October 2010: NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries hosted this research and education mission, bringing the science of ocean conservation and the underwater world to the public during live Internet broadcasts from the Aquarius undersea laboratory in the Florida Keys.
2010
September 2010: Using a multidisciplinary approach including mapping, core sampling, and "green" vessel technology, scientists explored this famous—if still relatively poorly understood—underwater fault off Northern California's coast.
2010
August - September 2010: The 2010 Extended Continental Shelf survey was a five-week-long Arctic mapping expedition involving two icebreakers: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent.
2010
August - September 2010: Using high-resolution systematic surveys of a large area along the shipping routes used by Massachusetts’ oldest ports, scientists tried to locate historic shipwrecks, including a shipwreck from the earliest periods of United States history.
2010
August 2010: Thunder Bay 2010 brought cutting-edge shipwreck-finding technology to Lake Huron’s “shipwreck alley”—the stretch of Lake Huron just off the northeastern Michigan coast that has claimed hundreds of ships.
2010
July - August 2010: A science team on the research vessel Seward Johnson headed to the eastern Gulf of Mexico to assess and record conditions in the water column and on the seafloor to gather baseline data along Florida’s shelf edge as part of NOAA’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
2010
June - August 2010: An international team led by scientists from the United States and Indonesia participated in a collaborative effort to explore the depths of Indonesian waters.
2010
April - May 2010: This unique expedition took place in Ballena Bay, just off the Isla Espíritu Santo. Learn why scientists hoped their findings would give them a better understanding of human migration into the New World.
2010
February 2010: A diverse team of scientists tackled questions about strange new biological life forms, communities, and ecosystems far from the sunlit ocean surface at the Chilean Triple Junction.