E/V Nautilus: 2025 Field Season

Field Season Overview

Between April and September 2025, Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) 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 (OECI), with additional support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

This year's telepresence-enabled program includes seafloor mapping, remotely operated vehicle operations, and the integration of a variety of exploration technologies from OECI-affiliated institutions (University of Rhode Island, University of New Hampshire, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and other partners to help advance the pace and efficiency of ocean exploration. These expeditions will explore waters in and around Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Wake Atoll. Each of OET’s expeditions is being planned and implemented in close collaboration and consultation with local communities and stakeholders in the regions where the expeditions will take place.

Learn more about the individual expeditions and join in on the exploration in real time through livestreamed video from the deep ocean on Nautilus Live. Also, follow Ocean Exploration Trust on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, and X/Twitter for behind-the-scenes updates.

NOAA Ocean Exploration and Ocean Exploration Trust have long partnered to explore the world's ocean. NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer was developed alongside E/V Nautilus, and the two are operated in a similar manner, using telepresence to enable scientists, students, educators, and the public to follow operations and participate remotely from shore. Today, through its support for E/V Nautilus via the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, NOAA Ocean Exploration continues to work with Ocean Exploration Trust to advance marine technologies, reduce uncertainties in critical parts of our largely unexplored deep ocean, and contribute to the Beyond the Blue: Illuminating the Pacific campaign, the National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone, Seabed 2030, and the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Header image courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust.

Published April 10, 2025