Deep Ocean Discovery Channel

[Sherley]

Thiswas my second 60-day expedition to the Southern Indian Ocean aboard the commercial trawler Will Watch, which was fishing for orange roughy and alfonsino. Both times the crew ventured more than 1,600 kilometres south of the island of Mauritius to fishing grounds near underwater sea mounts. When sharks were accidentally caught in the trawl nets the crew gave them to me to study, enabling me to make a contribution to scientific research.

We know very little about the sharks of the deep. Paul has embarked on two expeditions to the stormy and remote reaches of the Indian Ocean to bring the mysteries of these underwater aliens to the surface.

In the effort to protect our oceans, the Save Our Seas Foundation funds and supports research, conservation and education projects worldwide, focusing primarily on charismatic threatened wildlife and their habitats.

Ocean exploration is a dynamic and exciting field. New discoveries and explorations, advances in technology, and important findings in deep-ocean science happen every day. The items on this page capture some of the big news in ocean exploration, not just at NOAA, but around the field. The stories posted represent just a snapshot and the list here is not intended to be all encompassing; posting of links does not constitute specific endorsement of a story or news outlet. Check back regularly to stay on top of the ever-changing world of deep-ocean exploration or visit the archive for past stories.

Analysis of high-resolution climate models reveals a substantial reduction in global oceanic kinetic energy under global warming. This reduction of oceanic kinetic energy is mainly due to weakened mesoscale eddies in the deep ocean.

In an unexpected twist, metal-rich nodules found on the seafloor are generating oxygen, new research suggests. This meager but steady supply of the vital gas may help support seafloor ecosystems in areas currently targeted for deep-sea mining, scientists say.

The deadly implosion of an experimental submersible en route to the deep-sea grave of the Titanic last June has not dulled the desire for further ocean exploration, despite lingering questions about the disaster.

Nestled next to a park and tucked inside an inlet, Wahoo Bay boasts a half-acre of glistening, shallow water in Pompano Beach, Florida, home to tropical fish and endangered seagrass. But below the surface, the mini marine sanctuary is also a test bed for underwater technology that may take researchers to literal new depths.

The wreck of the ship that famed explorer Ernest Shackleton died on more than a century ago has been found on the ocean floor off the coast of Canada, according to a news release from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Challenger 150, which coordinates a global effort to map life in the deep-sea, has signed a memorandum of understanding with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, an initiative dedicated to inspiring and coordinating the global effort to map the entire ocean floor by the end of the decade.

Off the coast of Big Sur, California, deep beneath the waves, lies a mysterious landscape dotted by large holes in the clay, silt, and sand. Decades after its discovery, scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and Stanford University think they have figured out what is forming the field's curious pattern of circles.

One of the largest migrations on Earth happens in the dark ocean every night, as tiny jelly-like organisms work together to emerge from the deep sea to the surface. Biologists think the ocean migration could inspire future robotic technology.

A new species of crab was discovered living 3,000 feet under the ocean's surface, according to a new study. Researchers exploring the area in a submersible in March 2021 discovered the crab and collected a male specimen from some bamboo coral in the South China Sea. Upon closer examination, the team learned it had found a new species, depicting its characteristics in a study published in Raffles Bulletin of Zoology on May 3.

Scientists have discovered bioluminescence is actually pretty common among deep-sea shrimp, with a new study identifying 157 species that are believed to possess the ability to emit light. Some do it by vomiting luminous secretions and others through specialized light organs in their bodies. Some even do both.

A new mobile game launching today allows anyone with a smartphone or tablet to take part in ocean exploration and discovery. Welcome to FathomVerse. Now available for download on the App Store and Google Play, FathomVerse allows players to interact with real underwater images to improve the artificial intelligence that helps researchers study ocean life. The game combines immersive imagery, compelling gameplay, and cutting-edge science to inspire a new wave of ocean explorers.

The pace of discovery in the oceans leaped forward thanks to teamwork between a deep-sea robot and a human occupied submarine leading to the recent discovery of five new hydrothermal vents in the eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean.

In this episode, we will discuss the Digital Twin of the Ocean. We explore the goals of this EU initiative and examine how it can aid in combating plastic pollution, saving endangered species like marine turtles, and protecting our harbours from meteotsunamis.

Over 50 brand-new species have been discovered lurking on an ocean ridge in the Pacific. These new species were discovered alongside over 100 other species of crabs, corals, sea urchins, squid, fish, corals, mollusks, sea stars, glass sponges and squat lobsters that were previously known to science but were not thought to live in this region of the ocean.

The depths of oceans remain one of the last frontiers of exploration on Earth, harboring vital resources and critical ecological systems. Traditionally, two types of uncrewed vehicles are used to explore the deep sea.

Imagine an ocean vaster than all the water on Earth's surface combined hidden 700 kilometres beneath our feet. This is the mind-boggling discovery scientists at Northwestern University have unveiled, shaking our understanding of where Earth's water comes from.

Scientists aboard the research vessel Atlantis have discovered five new deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites on the seafloor at 2,550 m (1.6 miles) depth. The venting fluids are all hotter than 300 degrees Celsius (570 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Niijima island, a natural phenomenon that abruptly emerged from the ocean less than a year ago, has now vanished, according to the Japanese Coast Guard, underscoring the erratic nature of volcanic activity.

With their extraordinarily long tentacles and elusive behavior, bigfin squids are arguably one of the most alluring animals of the deep sea. Sightings of live individuals in the wild are extremely rare, but an increasing number of observations have been made in recent years thanks to advancements in deep-sea exploration technology.

When we climb on board the ship, the submersible is waiting for us on deck. It is sleek and gleaming and slightly comic, like a tiny spaceship. It has a banana-yellow deck and a huge, Jetsons-style cockpit contained within a transparent bubble: an acrylic globe that is perfectly clear and spherical, temporarily shrouded in a thick grey cover to protect the interior from super-heating in the Bahamian sun.

DThe deep ocean is a whole world of alien mystery. Once you start diving deep, below the range through which sunlight can penetrate, whole ecosystems unfold, glimmering, glittering, and feasting in the darkness.

After measuring the size of nearly 1 million fish and sharks over a 14-year period, researchers concluded that the species grew larger in remote and protected locations, free from the interference of fishing. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, used baited underwater video stations to measure the size of 823,849 fish from 1,460 species from 2006 to 2020.

Jellyfish can't do much besides swim, sting, eat, and breed. They don't even have brains. Yet, these simple creatures can easily journey to the depths of the oceans in a way that humans, despite all our sophistication, cannot. But what if humans could have jellyfish explore the oceans on our behalf, reporting back what they find? New research conducted at Caltech aims to make that a reality through the creation of what researchers call biohybrid robotic jellyfish.

The exploration of oceanic resources through seismic methods necessitates precise seafloor geophone positioning. Traditional techniques, however, grapple with issues such as the influence of outliers, suboptimal use of precise observations, and the inefficiency of real-time data processing. These challenges undermine the accuracy and effectiveness of seismic exploration, hindering the ability to precisely locate underwater petroleum and natural gas reserves.

Studying a rock is like reading a book. The rock has a story to tell, says Frieder Klein, an associate scientist in the Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Corals searching for food in the cold and dark waters of the deep sea are building higher and higher mountains to get closer to the source of their food. But in doing so, they may find themselves trapped when the climate changes.

While it's the reigning theory now, the road to acceptance was long and bumpy for plate tectonics, which describes how large portions of Earth's crust slide, grind, rise and sink ever so slowly across its sludgy mantle.

NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite has made it off the chopping block all the way to orbit. The nearly $1 billion PACE mission, which the Trump administration tried to cancel four separate times, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early this morning (Feb. 8) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

New clues have emerged in what is one of the greatest mysteries of all time: the disappearance of legendary American aviator Amelia Earhart. Deep Sea Vision, an ocean exploration company based in South Carolina, announced Saturday that it captured compelling sonar images of what could be Earhart's aircraft at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

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