Follow along as participants in the cruise provide updates and reflections on their experiences, the science, the technology, and other elements of the expedition.
July 11, 2018
An international team led by scientists from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa recently returned from a 34-day expedition to study deep-sea biodiversity and ecological processes in the western Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The expedition, aboard the UH-operated research vessel Kilo Moana, studied an area in the Pacific Ocean where numerous manganese nodule mining exploration claims are located.
Read moreJune 16, 2018 | By Dr. Erica Goetze
Women now make up a significant fraction of the scientists and crew working at sea in the research fleet. Here, I highlight the indispensable contributions of several women working on the R/V Kilo Moana during this DeepCCZ expedition, and share their background, expertise, and contributions to the overall scientific enterprise.
Read moreJune 15, 2018 | By Regan Drennan
This has been my first time working on a research cruise, and there have been several moments that have truly made me stop in my tracks and appreciate the perspective of the scales that deep sea research works at, and the near-inconceivably bizarre, beautiful, and science-fiction like world that it entails—far more so than I have experienced from just reading scientific papers.
Read moreJune 14, 2018 | By Marta M. Cecchetto and Dr. Andrew K. Sweetman
Over the past month, the Heriot-Watt University team have been deploying two unique seafloor lander systems to quantify organic matter cycling and measure ecosystem functioning.
Read moreJune 13, 2018 | By Annabell Moser
Many different reasons determine the oxygen penetration depth of sediments such as sediment structure/size/composition, concentration of organic matter (all particles that fall from the surface layer of the ocean into the deep and function as food), organism activity such as bioturbation, oxygen concentration in the overlying water, and physical parameter such as currents.
Read moreJune 12, 2018 | By Dr. Craig Smith
What is yellow, 40 centimeters (16 inches) long, has 7 lips, 92 feet and a spikey profile like a punk rocker? An abyssal sea cucumber of course!
Read moreJune 11, 2018 | By Dr. Helena Wiklund
Down on the seafloor live stranger, and more, organisms than we can imagine. More often than not, while watching live images from the seafloor remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the scientists onboard burst out: "Wow! What IS that? Did you see that?!"
Read moreJune 9, 2018 | By Dr. Emma Wear
One of the fun aspects of deep-sea oceanography is the chance to make shrunken Styrofoam cups. Many oceanographers have two or three of these pieces of art sitting around their offices as souvenirs of past cruises. We decorate Styrofoam cups with markers, attach them to the side of an instrument that we’re sending to the bottom of the ocean, and get them back several inches smaller than when they went overboard.
Read moreJune 7, 2018 | By Dr. Erica Goetze
This is technical and difficult work, demanding an integrated and collaborative team of engineers, biologists and data management experts to successfully complete baseline surveys in the region. One thing that comes to mind is—Gosh this is hard! Could there be an easier way to survey the animals living in this remote and difficult-to-sample habitat? And if so—what would that approach look like?
Read moreJune 6, 2018 | By Meagan Putts
Have you ever explored the ocean floor using Google maps? If you do, you will notice that the entire ocean is covered with features ranging from seamounts to fracture zones. Since less than 5% of the ocean floor has been directly mapped, you may be wondering where the data comes from that shows such a detailed picture of the ocean floor. The answer is satellites.
Read moreJune 4, 2018 | By Kirsty McQuaid
Many researchers, including those on DeepCCZ, work tirelessly to gather information about the deep-sea environment in the high seas so that we can better manage the use of its resources and protect it from harmful activities. There are currently several different legal instruments at the regional and global levels to manage human activities in the high seas (e.g., fishing and shipping).
Read moreJune 2, 2018 | By Dr. Astrid Leitner
With all the buzz about deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining and with mining companies seeking mining exploration claims across the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), one would think this region is reasonably well known. Our current map of the CCZ may therefore come as a bit of a surprise.
Read moreMay 29, 2018 | By Dr. Matthew Church and Dr. Emma Wear
It’s hard to fathom what it’s like to live in the abyssal sea, miles below the sunlit world we experience. Dark, cold, high pressure, all the time. Living in such a habitat is so foreign to the way we interact with the world. Yet life in this deep-sea world is directly coupled to the world we know.
Read moreMay 27, 2018 | By Oliver Kersten
The plankton pumps are currently our most effective way of collecting near-bottom plankton from the deep sea, which includes both holoplankton (organisms that live as plankton their whole life) and meroplankton (organisms that live in the plankton during only part of their life, such as the larvae of seafloor organisms.
Read moreMay 25, 2018 | By Dr. Jeff Drazen
You might be surprised that we are feeding the deep-sea wildlife in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We use camera systems designed to sink to the seafloor, free of the ship, with a parcel of food (dead fish) in view.
Read moreMay 21, 2018 | By Regan Drennan
When it comes to research cruises, I am indeed a novice. The whole experience so far has given me a great appreciation for just how much work from so many people goes into collecting this kind of data.
Read moreMay 16, 2018 | By Marta Cecchetto
It’s now been a couple of days since we left Honolulu and set sail. The first thing I noticed when we left port was the constant and never ending rocking of the ship.
Read moreMay 14, 2018 | By Dr. Craig Smith
After many months of preparation, we have finally embarked on the main research cruise for the DeepCCZ project, heading to the equatorial Pacific.
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