Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping
April 8-May 5, 2025
From April 8-May 5, NOAA Ocean Exploration will lead a 28-day remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to explore deep waters in and around Papahānaumokuākea. During the expedition, the team will work to fill gaps in our understanding of the region by conducting focused mapping and ROV operations in waters deeper than 200 meters (656 feet).
All things permitting, when the ship is not in transit, dives will be streamed most days, April 11 to May 2, from approximately 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. HDT / 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT. Note that dates and times are subject to change. Over the course of the expedition, we expect to dive and explore deep-sea coral and sponge habitats, seamounts, maritime heritage sites, and the water column.
Use of the livestreams is an important component of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer’s mission. Depending on the exploration and operations at hand, content and availability of the video feeds will change. All video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration.
All views and opinions expressed in this video feed are those of the speaker and are not attributable to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or other federal agency.
What Are You Seeing?
When the Okeanos Explorer is underway on an expedition, this page will broadcast streams from the ship. What is being shown on the different video streams may change depending on the exploration and operations at hand.
Note that occassionally on the feeds, you will see two red dots – these laser points are 10 centimeters (almost four inches) apart and are used by scientists to determine the sizes of things that they are seeing.
Live Track/Current Position Map
Map data courtesy of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
Dive Plan
April 21, 2025: Midwater Site 01
During today’s dive, we will explore the water column in a northwestern region of Papahānaumokuākea with the goal of documenting midwater biodiversity. We will also aim to characterize the deep scattering layer, one of the largest daily migrations on Earth and a potentially large driver of surface-to-deepwater mixing. Throughout the dive, we will complete at least five transects at depths of 1200, 900, 700, 500, and 300 meters (3,940, 2,955, 2,300, 1,640, and 985 feet). At each depth, we will observe organisms with video, sample key specimens, and collect water for eDNA. We will also use data collected using the remotely operated vehicle-based CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) instrument and shipboard multibeam sonar to identify the deep scattering layer, if possible, and target this depth for an additional transect, if logistics allow.
Approximate ROV launch: 8:30 a.m. HST / 2:30 p.m. EDT
Approximate bottom arrival time: 9:10 a.m. HST / 3:10 p.m. EDT
Approximate bottom departure time: 3:40 p.m. HST / 9:40 p.m. EDT
Note that this is a tentative plan and is subject to change before or during the dive.