2022 Nautilus Expeditions

The deep-water areas around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll are within one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM). Despite a growing number of expeditions to explore deep-sea environments of the PRIMNM, including a 2019 Nautilus expedition, many areas remain unexplored. This expedition will continue to advance our understanding of the regional ocean exploring areas in the US Exclusive Economic Zone but inside and outside the protection of PRIMNM which have never been surveyed with ROVs or submersibles. This project will directly support the National Strategy for Ocean Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone by conducting high-resolution, in situ exploration and characterization in areas that meet the goals of the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

Exploration areas are within the Prime Crust Zone, an area of the Pacific with the oceanographic conditions observed to concentrate deep-sea minerals, including economically valuable metals and rare earth elements like iron-manganese (FeMn) and cobalt-rich mineral crusts. Collecting and studying rock specimens will help address questions about thickness and composition of FeMn and Co-rich crusts and ground truthing where they occur. ROV Hercules’ observations and samples will be important to understanding the complex geological history, including the origins of, the seamounts of the Line Islands.

Additionally, our Corps of Exploration will use ROV video to document and characterize sensitive habitats within these areas in order to support management and conservation efforts. We will assess targeted biology through voucher specimen collection with the hope of identifying new species and enhancing our knowledge of species’ biogeographic range. Observations will contribute to understanding many questions about the biodiversity and connectivity of deep water coral and sponge communities in PRIMNM and across the Central Pacific region. The questions of biological connectivity are particularly relevant as the area contains rich biodiversity and is the closest deep water marine protected area to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and in the same region as Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

This expedition will have E/V Nautilus returning to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) to build on the accomplishments of the 2021 Luʻuaeaahikiikalipolipo expedition, which mapped the previously unmapped Liliʻuokalani Ridge Seamounts. The team returns for the first visual exploratory surveys of the seamount chain looking to investigate a puzzling split in the seamount trail. Hotspot volcano chains are generally linear features, drawing interest about what geologic processes may have split this subsea mountain group. Thousands of seamounts rise from the seafloor of the Central and Western Pacific in complex patterns where distribution and geologic origins remain to be fully understood.

The expedition name Luʻuaeaahikiikekumu (Luʻu-a-ea-a-hiki-i-ke-kumu) represents the journey to and the work in the foundation, or the foundation of the ocean/islands. The mappings of the Liliʻuokalani Seamounts in October 2021 allowed us to look at the source and foundation of our oceans and islands with ROV dives. Ke kumu refers to the foundation, the source or origin. The Ocean Exploration Trust Hawaiʻi and Papahānaumokuākea expeditions close with a return to the Liliʻuokalani Seamount thus returning to the source or beginning of your journey. This action of returning to or arriving at the source reflects an action of pani (to close). The work is complete, for now, as the kumu is also a source of inspiration for future work. The inclusion of Native Hawaiian language and practice to the Ocean Exploration Trust expeditions to Papahānaumokuākea is the first of its kind, thus the name reflects the birth of new relationships and collaborative ways of practicing that are inclusive of Kānaka (Native Hawaiians) worldview.

A primary objective of this expedition is to gather samples to determine the geologic origin and age of these seamounts as part of better understanding of the formation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These seamounts will also be surveyed for biodiversity with expectations to find rich coral and sponge communities which are commonly found on seamounts of these depths throughout PMNM. Considering the presumed Cretaceous age of the Liliʻuokalani Ridge seamounts, it is expected that relatively thick ferromanganese crusts have formed on exposed rock surfaces, particularly on the flanks of the seamounts where sedimentation is minimized. These crusts may have a high critical mineral content. The team will also study the microbial communities residing on and within these crusts that may provide important ecosystem services to seamount ecosystems, but the extent of these services is poorly known globally.

As we visit Papahānaumokuākea, the ancestral homeland of the Native Hawaiian people and the largest marine conservation area in the US, we gratefully acknowledge generations of indigenous Hawaiians and today’s stewards of these waters. OET is working closely with PMNM collaborators to inform research priorities at sea and from shore, ensure culturally-grounded collection protocols, and connect with local communities through ship-to-shore connections and development of education resources in ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language). All of these efforts support opportunities to work with Native Hawaiians and to perpetuate the cultural values, knowledge, and practices of their cultural heritage while advancing modern science and exploration together.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute with additional support from the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

A key objective of the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) is to develop the tools and technology that enable ocean exploration activities to be conducted remotely or without human supervision. This goal is motivated not only by the vast extent of the ocean that remains unexplored but also by the new class of smaller oceanographic vessels that will require remote and autonomous operations to achieve their full potential. In these instances, uncrewed systems capable of autonomous exploration enable the ship to conduct its own exploration program, increasing a vessel’s ability to simultaneously explore a region using multiple technologies. However, this future gain in ocean exploration efficiency is only possible if we are able to develop, test, and validate fundamental collaboration concepts and protocols.

This expedition will bring together our OECI partners from the University of New Hampshire and their uncrewed surface vessel DriX, as well as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutionʻs and autonomous underwater vehicle Mesobot and hybrid vehicle NUI. Over the course of the 16-day expedition, the team will test and demonstrate operational capabilities including vehicles (1) communicating with each other while they are simultaneously deployed; (2) being re-tasked based on information gained from a partner vehicle; and (3) demonstrating further advances in teleoperations with operators back on shore.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

This 24-day expedition will involve multibeam and sub-bottom profiler mapping to reveal the seafloor within the Johnston Atoll Unit of Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument (PRIMNM). Johnston Atoll, one of the most isolated atolls in the world, is located in the central Pacific Ocean, between the Hawaiian Islands and the Line Islands. The main objective of this expedition will be to collect high-resolution seafloor bathymetry data where it has not been previously collected. In 2014, the boundaries of PRIMNM expanded encompassing a large seafloor area which was unmapped. Discoveries and data revealed on this expedition will inform planning for ROV dives on a follow-on expedition examining areas of prime deep sea coral and sponge habitat.

This project will directly support the National Strategy for Ocean Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone by contributing to mapping the deep waters of the US EEZ, a top priority of the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

Johnston Atoll, one of the most isolated atolls in the world, is located in the central Pacific Ocean, between the Hawaiian Islands, the Line Islands, and the nation of Kiribati. Around this atoll, the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) was expanded in 2014 to protect the full 200 nautical mile perimeter of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) encompassing many unexplored seafloor features. Utilizing data from the previous mapping expedition and the multiyear NOAA Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE, 2015-2017), the team will target ROV dives to expand upon understanding of prime deep sea coral and sponge habitat.

The ROV dives will largely occur along ridge features that are common within the Johnston Atoll Unit of PRIMNM where high densities of corals are expected to reside. The primary objectives of this expedition include (1) conducting surveys of the density and diversity of benthic habitats of Johnston Atoll including deep-water corals, sponges, and fish habitats; (2) acquiring physical and chemical data in support of PRIMNM’s conservation and exploration goals, including dissolved oxygen and eDNA samples; and (3) collect rock samples to identify mineral crusts and age date the geological features of the region.

Johnston Atoll is located in the Prime Crust Zone, an area of the Pacific with oceanographic conditions observed to concentrate deep-sea minerals, including economically valuable metals and rare earth elements. The questions of biological connectivity are particularly relevant around Johnston Atoll as the area contains rich biodiversity and is the closest deep water marine protected area to Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and in the same region as the Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, and Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.

This expedition focuses on high-resolution mapping areas of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) currently lacking data using ship-based mapping surveys in deep waters as well as deploying the uncrewed surface vessel DriX for nearshore mapping. Acquiring this data will equip resource managers with a better understanding of the formation of deep-water and shallow-water terrain of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands contribute new data to nautical charts and improve safe navigation in these areas and the national and international priority to build high-resolution maps of the seafloor, especially in areas needing protection. This expedition will focus on the southern end of PMNM, between the islands of Nihoa and Pūhāhonu (Gardner Pinnacles).

Since scientific exploration has not been conducted in this expansion region, we must first map the seamounts to provide detailed visualization of the targeted features. Information collected during this expedition will help to determine summit depths and pinpoint future dive sites for our team. This expedition contributes to the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization Council (NOMEC) and GEBCO Seabed 2030 seafloor mapping priorities. Both efforts to build complete maps of the seafloor require dedicated surveying efforts, particularly in remote areas to meet these goals within the next decade. 97% of the seafloor >3000 m depth in the PMNM and Pacific Remote Islands is currently unmapped.

As we visit Papahānaumokuākea, the ancestral homeland of the Native Hawaiian people and the largest marine conservation area in the US, we gratefully acknowledge generations of indigenous Hawaiians and today’s stewards of these waters. OET is working closely with PMNM collaborators to inform research priorities at sea and from shore, ensure culturally-grounded collection protocols, and connect with local communities through ship-to-shore connections and development of education resources in ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language). All of these efforts support opportunities to work with Native Hawaiians and to perpetuate the cultural values, knowledge, and practices of their cultural heritage while advancing modern science and exploration together.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute along with the NOAA Office of Coast Survey.

Launching in 2022, the From Shore to the Abyss Program expands OET’s ocean exploration program from the deep sea into coastal coral ecosystems lending our ship and research experience to contribute to new discoveries focused on the conservation of reefs and generation of new knowledge. The program in 2022 will focus on the lower-half of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument — the largest marine protected area in the US. The areas surrounding many of the islands and atolls have not been mapped. Seafloor topography is fundamental to understanding the environment as it lays the foundation for everything else.

Located NW of the state of Hawaiʻi, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands span 1,200 nautical miles and contain dozens of islands, atolls, and shoals of volcanic origins with carbonate reef fringes. These waters and lands have rich ancient and modern cultural connections for the Native Hawaiian people and the area’s ecosystems still have much remaining to be discovered. Researchers continue to find new species amongst the foundational reefs that host more than 7,000 species, including marine mammals, fishes, sea turtles, birds, and invertebrates. At least one quarter of organisms are endemic, found nowhere else on Earth and many are rare, threatened, or endangered.

This series of expeditions will involve deepwater mapping efforts sponsored by the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute in addition to shallow water research sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The mapping surveys will take place overnight and will focus on areas within PMNM that have not previously been mapped at high-resolution. During daylight hours, National Geographic Society Explorers and research teams will conduct a variety of projects including coral reef, fish, and shark biodiversity surveys; acoustic recordings of the underwater soundscapes of PMNM; surveys for microplastic concentrations within the monument; 3D photogrammetry of archeological sites; and Indigenous data sovereignty.

This expedition is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute as well as the National Geographic Society.