Red light does not reach ocean depths, so deep-sea animals that are red actually appear black and thus are less visible to predators and prey. Sunlight contains all of the colors of our visible ...

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest ocean basin on Earth, covering more than 155 million square kilometers (60 million square miles) and averaging a depth of 4,000 meters (13,000 feet).

While the Okeanos Explorer is at sea, live video is streamed to shore. This section contains information on how to view the video streaming from the ship and instructions to set up two-way ...

If you’ve enjoyed any classic books or movies that involve sailing on the open ocean, you might have some preconceived notions of what a voyage lasting many weeks would feel like. Maybe you picture ...

During Dive 07 of the 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration expedition, we observed this large Caulophacus sp. sponge that measured approximately 2 meters (6.5 feet) high and 50 centimeters (1 ...

During Dive 06 of the 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration expedition, the team collected a small piece of a very tall bamboo coral, likely in the genus Bathygorgia. The coral was observed at ...

Teachers model and observe deep, cold-water currents around a seamount as part of the Student Investigation: Seamounts and Biological Productivity.

Multibeam sonar is a type of active sonar system used to map the seafloor and detect objects in the water column or along the seafloor. The multiple physical sensors of the sonar – called a transducer ...

An acoustic Doppler current profiler, or ADCP, is a device that uses sound waves to measure the speed and direction of currents throughout the water column. Understanding how water in the ocean moves ...

Autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, are independent underwater robots used to explore our ocean. Unlike remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), AUVs are untethered from a ship, allowing the robots to ...

Covering 6.4 million acres, an area larger than Vermont, an underwater seascape of cold-water coral mounds offshore the southeast United States coast has been deemed the largest deep-sea coral reef ...

Exploration is key to increasing our understanding of the ocean, so we can more effectively manage, conserve, regulate, and use ocean resources that are vital to our economy and to all of our lives.