Located roughly midway between the Hawaiian and Mariana Islands, Wake Island is one of the most isolated land masses on Earth. While there have been some recent expeditions to this remote region, the vast majority of the 407,241 square kilometers of seafloor surrounding Wake remains unmapped and uncharacterized, thereby representing one of the most poorly surveyed areas under US jurisdiction. This 30-day expedition will utilize the ROV, mapping, and telepresence systems of E/V Nautilus to collect critical baseline information across this largely unexplored region, with a focus on science priorities of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument and the Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, including abyssal plain habitats, unexplored seamounts, and potential maritime heritage sites associated with the Battle of Wake Island. On this expedition, the team will also deploy a limited number of Argo floats from the Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array to support large-scale oceanographic monitoring.
Expedition Partners
