Explore the Pacific with OET's 2023 Expedition Season
We're excited to share a preview of our 2023 expedition season! Launching LIVE May 16, our journey will take us from Hawai'i to Canada, south of the equator, and back again as we explore the vast Pacific Ocean. The Pacific covers nearly one-third of the planet’s surface - the largest wilderness on Earth - with thousands of islands, deep cultural history, and below the waves, unknown species, and yet-to-be-seen landscapes. Only a tiny fraction of the seafloor has been explored, and there’s so much more to discover to care for its future. Join OET and our partners as we livestream 24/7 across the expedition season!
The 2023 Nautilus Expedition is sponsored by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the Office of Naval Research, Ocean Networks Canada, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and private donors. OET education program sponsors and partners for 2023 include the Office of Naval Research, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, CITGO, QPS, and the Phil Stephenson Foundation. The Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute is based at the University of Rhode Island, with affiliated institutions and organizations, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of New Hampshire, Ocean Exploration Trust, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Exploring Deep Sea Habitats Near Kingman Reef & Palmyra Atoll
Our first live expedition of 2023 brings us back to the region of Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll as part of our ongoing effort to explore the deep ocean in and around the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) through the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
Mid-Pacific Mapping Northbound
This expedition is a seafloor mapping transit that brings the E/V Nautilus from the Central to Eastern Pacific Ocean. This nine-day cruise will start in Honolulu and end in Sidney (British Columbia), and utilize the deep-water mapping capabilities of E/V Nautilus to map previously uncharted seafloor during the transit route.
Ocean Networks Canada Maintenance and Exploration
For this expedition, we take a trip north to provide support to Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) wired seafloor observatory off the west coast of British Columbia where deployed technologies gather thousands of observations about dynamics across an entire tectonic plate.
Mid-Pacific Mapping Southbound
This expedition is a seafloor mapping transit to bring the E/V Nautilus from British Columbia back to the Central Pacific where the ship will operate for the remainder of the 2023 field season. This 12-day transit route will fill gaps in seabed mapping within and beyond the U.S. EEZ and thereby support priorities of Seabed 2030 and the US National Strategy for Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization.
Deep Sea Biodiversity & Ancient Seamount Exploration near Johnston Atoll
In August 2023, we will return to the Central Pacific for 27 days of exploration within the Johnston Atoll Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM), starting and ending in Honolulu.
Ala ʻAumoana Kai Uli in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Ocean Exploration Trust and partners will conduct a telepresence-enabled expedition to explore unseen deep-sea habitats aboard E/V Nautilus with ROV and seafloor mapping operations in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) focused on the largely unexplored northwestern section of the Monument.
OECI Multi-vehicle Exploration
Over the last three years OET has been working with partners from Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) to integrate emerging exploration technologies to enhance ocean exploration.
Ocean Exploration through Advanced Imaging
In October, we return to ROV dives continuing our work to advance technology use in the deep sea. Experimenting with deploying a new camera technology, we will explore using a new wide-field camera array on ROV Hercules to capture three-dimensional stereoscopic imagery from the seabed.
Hawaiʻi Mapping
This ten-day expedition will start and end in Honolulu and utilize the deep-water mapping capabilities of E/V Nautilus to survey previously unmapped seafloor in the U.S. EEZ south of the Main Hawaiian Islands.
Jarvis Island Mapping
Traveling to the southern hemisphere, this expedition takes the team to Jarvis Island, one of the most poorly mapped areas under US jurisdiction, where our high-resolution bathymetric seafloor mapping will add to the world’s baseline knowledge of this poorly studied part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM).
