Expeditions & Projects

Beyond the Blue: Illuminating the Pacific is a multifaceted science campaign designed to raise collective knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of waters in the Pacific Islands region through coordinated mapping and exploration expeditions, data management and sharing, strategic partnerships, and outreach and engagement. In 2024, NOAA Ocean Exploration began work with partners to conduct multiple expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, lead outreach and education activities and events, and build additional partnerships in the Pacific Islands region in support of Beyond the Blue.

Between April and September 2025, Ocean Exploration Trust and its partners will use Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus to explore deep-ocean habitats and maritime heritage sites in the western Pacific Ocean. The 2025 E/V Nautilus field season is sponsored primarily by NOAA Ocean Exploration through its Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, with additional support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

From April 8-May 5, NOAA Ocean Exploration led a 28-day remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore deep waters in and around Papahānaumokuākea. This expedition included daytime ROV dives to explore the seafloor and water column, overnight mapping operations, and continuous shore-side participation via telepresence technology.

From March 17-27, 2025, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted a telepresence-enabled expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in deep waters off Hawai‘i. During the Beyond the Blue: 2025 ROV and Mapping Shakedown expedition, the team assessed the readiness of remotely operated vehicles (ROV) Deep Discoverer and Seirios along with the ship’s mapping, telepresence, and other systems needed to conduct scientific activities. This “shakedown” ensured that these systems were ready to go for the remainder of the year and provided an opportunity to train staff while ensuring that collected data are of the highest quality.

From October 11 to December 5, 2024, an interdisciplinary and international team of researchers explored the unique geological and biological systems of the Chile margin during an ambitious expedition on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor (too) . With support from NOAA Ocean Exploration, one of the expedition projects focused on collecting data to unravel the complexities of methane seep systems — a type of cold seep and a significant contributor to oceanic carbon cycling — in this tectonically active region.

To streamline the process of locating seafloor fluid flow sites such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, this research team is developing a fully autonomous algorithm to enable autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to trace biogeochemistry signatures in the water column that are indicative of vents and seeps using real-time data recorded by onboard sensors, independent of human operators. In September 2024, they tested a prototype of their plume-tracing algorithm during two AUV Sentry dives at Vailulu’u Seamount in National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa.