The Ocean Exploration Trust 2024 Field Season

This annual report marks the 16th anniversary of Ocean Exploration Trust’s E/V Nautilus exploring poorly known parts of our global ocean in search of new discoveries. Since its first season in 2009, E/V Nautilus has conducted a total of 169 multi-disciplinary expeditions throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Black Sea for a total of 2,133 days at sea (~5.8 years). These scientific expeditions included a total of 1,078 successful ROV dives, as well as mapped over 1,204,000 square kilometers of seafloor. The results of these expeditions have been summarized in over 360 peer-reviewed scientific publications covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, including marine geology, biology, archaeology, chemistry, technology development, and the social sciences. 

Over the past 16 years, E/V Nautilus has not only been a platform for ocean exploration and discovery, but also a training workspace for early career professionals to obtain valuable at-sea experience, thereby helping to develop a more robust workforce. It has also catalyzed numerous technological innovations, multi-disciplinary collaborations, and inspired millions through Ocean Exploration Trust’s extensive outreach initiatives. The 2024 field season was no exception, with E/V Nautilus undertaking 11 multi-disciplinary expeditions that explored some of the most poorly surveyed areas across both sides of the Pacific, all of which included numerous activities to share expedition stories with audiences of all ages.