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This pink bubblegum coral (an octocoral) being overgrown by yellow zoanthids (hexacorals) was seen while diving on a seamount at a depth of 2,016 meters (6,614 feet) during the 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana: Exploring Deep Monument Waters Around Johnston Atoll expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana.
July is Habitat Month!
While exploring in the Atlantic, east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and between Madeira and Portugal, scientists on Swedish corvette Josephine discovered what was later named Josephine Seamount, the first seamount discovered as the direct result of ocean exploration. Today, Josephine Seamount is part of the OSPAR Network of Marine Protected Areas.
The first all-female team of aquanauts, led by Sylvia Earle, began a two-week research mission in the Tektite underwater laboratory at a depth of 15 meters (50 feet) in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners embarked on the 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana: Exploring Deep Monument Waters Around Johnston Atoll remotely operated vehicle and mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as part of the Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE).
During the NOAA Ocean Exploration-led 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, the team discovered the wreckage of a World War II B-29 Bomber.
NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners embarked on the 2015 Hohonu Moana: Exploring the Deep Waters Off Hawaiʻi remotely operated vehicle and mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, kicking off the Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE).
NOAA Ocean Exploration embarked on the Mapping Deepwater Areas Southeast of Bermuda in Support of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as part of the Atlantic Seafloor Partnership for Integrated Research and Exploration (ASPIRE) campaign.
Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Seirios made its official debut on a dive on Paramount Seamounts as a camera sled and lighting platform for partner ROV Little Hercules during the NOAA Ocean Exploration-led 2011 Galápagos Rift Expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.
Marine biologist Roberta Eike stowed away aboard Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Research Vessel Caryn to protest the prohibition of women working as scientists at sea. Her protest contributed to the end of the "no women at sea" rule for U.S. research ships.
During the NOAA Ocean Exploration-supported Kiska: Alaska's Underwater Battlefield expedition, a team from Project Recover discovered the missing section of USS Abner Read, which was blown off and sunk when the ship struck a mine on August 18, 1943.
NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners embarked on the 2019 Technology Demonstration on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as part of the Atlantic Seafloor Partnership for Integrated Research and Exploration (ASPIRE) campaign.
The U.S. Navy launched Sealab I, the first experimental underwater habitat, off the coast of Bermuda to a depth of 59 meters (192 feet) below the ocean surface to determine how humans could live and work underwater for extended periods.
Using a dredge in the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, scientists on HMS Porcupine confirmed the existence of life as deep as 4,453 meters (2.8 miles), far deeper than what was previously believed to be the limit of life in the ocean.
During the NOAA Ocean Exploration-led 2011 Galápagos Rift Expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, the expedition team discovered "Tempus Fugit," one of the largest vent fields known on the rift.
NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners embarked on the Deepwater Wonders of Wake: Exploring the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument remotely operated vehicle and mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as part of the Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds (CAPSTONE).
Interested in learning more? Browse our expeditions by year and read about NOAA's history of ocean exploration, and, throughout the year, follow the stories Celebrating 20 Years of NOAA Ocean Exploration.