Our expedition takes us to unexplored waters south of the Philippine Islands, in search of the strange, and possibly unknown, fishes, jellyfish, squids and shrimp that have evolved in isolation at over 5,000 meters in the dark deep waters of the Celebes Sea. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/welcome.html http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/include/images/ocean_explorer_podcast_100.jpg http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/welcome.html View photos and videos taken during the Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea 2007 mission, including high-resolution photos and slideshows. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/photolog/photolog.html Chief Scientist Larry Madin provides a mission summary, highlighting the diversity and abundance of life in the water column of the Celebes Sea. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/summary/summary.html See why the Celebes Sea southeast of the Sulu Archipelago is the center of the most biologically diverse area of the world's ocean. Experience the discovery of new species aboard the research vessel Presbitero via the Global Explorer ROV on the sea floor 5000 thousand meters below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGXz9efC0QI Sixty-one people on a ship designed for forty have worked remarkably well together, as they finished taking samples and doing surveys in the Celebes Sea. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct14/oct14.html Biologists from the Philippines have played a key role in this mission, including in the hunt for zooplankton. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct13/oct13.html One of the more unusual tools used during this mission is a planktonkreisel, a kind of merry-go-round that allows researchers to more easily observe plankton. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct12/oct12.html Philippine Navy Seals and National Geographic TV cinematographer Nick Caloyianis rescue a balky ROV. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct10/oct10.html The mission welcomes guests from Tawi-Tawi and Bangao and is entertained by the traditional Muslim dances of Southern Mindanao. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct8/oct8.html Emory Kristoff is unfazed as his $25,000 camera sinks to the bottom of the Celebes Sea. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct7/oct7.html The expedition uses digital holographic imaging to study undisturbed marine plankton. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct6/oct6.html The mission reaches the sampling site and deploys bongo nets and their ROV. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct5/oct5.html Terrorist groups lurk in Mindanao, one of which is connected to Al Queda, so the mission is protected by Philippine Navy Seals. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct4/oct4.html Anchors away! The ship sets sail and runs into high seas. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/oct2/oct2.html As scientists set up their equipment, a last-minute shopping trip is made for bait fish and other necessities. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/sept30/sept30.html Caron de Mars organizes a test dive to check underwater camera equipment. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/sept29/sept29.html The team prepares for departure by loading the ship and meeting with Philippine students. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/logs/sept27/sept27.html Listen to a NOAA audio podcast on Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea 2007 expedition that will take place in the Celebes Sea south of the Philippine Islands. The unexplored waters of the Celebes Sea plunge to over 5,000 meters and are home to strange, and possibly unknown, fishes, jellyfish, squids and shrimp. The podcast shows a few images from a team of highly trained technical divers and support divers who are about to mount an expedition into the Twilight Zone of the Cayman Islands. The deep fore-reef, or Twilight Zone [about 50-150 m], has rarely been explored. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/plan/media/07philippines_podcast.html The isolation of populations and natural selection are responsible for speciation. We know now that isolation of gene pools invariably enhances evolutionary change when populations are exposed to different environmental conditions. Learn why the Indo-Pacific has the greatest diversity and number of species of both terrestrial and marine species of any place on Earth. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/speciation/speciation.html The Celebes Sea 2007 Expedition will provide the most complete vertical inventory of marine life ever accomplished in a short space of time by combining four technologies on a single ship. Discover why all of these technologies are essential to the scientist. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/tech/tech.html Marine biologists dive with SCUBA in the open ocean to observe and collect undisturbed and undamaged organisms that live in the water column from the surface down to about 100 feet. It is a particularly important way to study soft-bodied, gelatinous animals such as jellyfish because these animals are terribly damaged or destroyed when they are caught in nets. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/diving/diving.html The tropical ocean surrounding the southern Philippines is considered the cradle of biodiversity for shallow water marine animals, but there has been little biological exploration of its deep waters, twisted trenches and seafloor basins. Learn why low sea levels during ancient times kept the basins isolated from each other, which may have allowed unique species to develop within them. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/conservation/conservation.html Satellites are a useful tool for visualizing the dynamics of the ocean. From their vantage point in space, satellites are able to measure different characteristics of the ocean over a large area: sea surface temperature, wave height and the amount of chlorophyll in the water. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/temperature/temperature.html As part of the Sulu Archipelago, which comprises about 25% of the coral reef cover in all of the Philippines, the sea around Tawi-Tawi is very rich in marine biodiversity, but it is also threatened by dynamite and cyanide fishing. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/tawitawi/tawitawi.html Read about the highly trained research team and share the excitement of at-sea discoveries of the rarely explored Celebes Sea south of the Philippine Islands. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/explorers/explorers.html This 2007 expedition will begin in the port of Manila and take us south through the Sulu Sea to our study site, southeast of the Sulu Archipelago, where the bottom falls off abruptly to the sea floor thousands of meters below. Lying just north of the equator, the Celebes Sea is the center of the most biologically diverse area of the world’s ocean. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/background/plan/plan.html