OET’s 2025 Expedition Season Preview
The 2025 Nautilus Expedition Season is finally here! Join us for the next five months, diving into the depths to explore our ocean world across the West Pacific. Our five 2025 expeditions will build ocean knowledge to support international scientific and U.S. governmental priorities, to understand ocean changes, to share knowledge with others, working closely with local communities, and contribute new discoveries and data to inform future resource management decisions. We can’t wait to see you on the seafloor for what we know will be an epic season!. Explore with us all year, sending in your questions and ideas on NautilusLive.org!
Mariana Arc Volcanic Exploration
E/V Nautilus will begin the 2025 season exploring the ocean of the Mariana Islands- one of the most tectonically and volcanically dynamic locations on the planet. This area is home to one of the most active arc volcanic systems on Earth with more than 60 submarine volcanoes, and a back-arc spreading center where new seafloor is created.
Exploring Mud Volcanoes and the Mariana Trench
The westernmost portion of the United States, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, protects 246,608 square kilometers of submerged land around the Mariana Islands. The monument contains many unique habitats including the deepest ocean areas and the largest known mud volcanoes on Earth.
Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal: Iron Bottom Sound
Located in the Solomon Islands between the islands of Guadalcanal, Savo, and Nggela, Iron Bottom Sound was the stage of five major naval battles between August and December 1942 which resulted in the loss of over 20,000 lives, 111 naval vessels, and 1,450 planes. These underwater cultural heritage sites now rest on the seafloor offshore Honiara in a confined area less than 25 nautical miles wide, 40 nautical miles long, and 1,400 meters deep.
Deep-Sea Habitats of the Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is an atoll-based country of over 1,200 islands surrounded by 2.13 million square kilometers of ocean, the vast majority of which has never been mapped or surveyed.
Mapping Around Wake Atoll
For our final expedition of 2025, E/V Nautilus explores the waters surrounding Wake Atoll, one of the most poorly surveyed ocean areas under US jurisdiction.
