Beautiful Benthic Biodiversity of the Mariana Islands
During the NA179 expedition, we explored poorly known deep-sea habitats around the Mariana Islands. With the collaborative effort of our team of engineers, scientists, onshore scientists, videographers, educators, and mariners who keep E/V Nautilus exploring around the clock, we gained new visual documentation of deep-sea megafauna east of the Mariana Trench. Until now, this area has not been explored by any other known deep-submergence dives. Using two different remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), we explored both seamounts and guyots (with ROV Hercules dives H2123 and H2127) and abyssal plain habitats (with ROV Little Hercules dives L1015 and L1016), and observed a variety of deep-sea animals at different depths.
This photo album was created by Science Communication Fellows Yeji Lee and Ashley Cosme.
Deep-Sea Habitats in the Mariana Islands I
This expedition will focus on exploring the Mariana region- one of the ocean's most tectonically and volcanically dynamic locations, marked by the Earth’s deepest oceanic trench, some of the most active submarine volcanoes, and some of the oldest seafloor on the planet.
