Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts

Background Information

The essays below will help you to understand the goals and objectives of the mission and provide additional context and information about the places being explored and the science, tools, and technologies being used.

Download a fact sheet (pdf, 1.3 MB) about the expedition.

  • Mission Plan

    Mission Plan

    From September 6 to 30, 2017, NOAA and partners will conduct a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas around the Musicians Seamounts and the Hawaiian Islands.

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  • What's in Name? A Brief History of the Musicians Seamounts

    What's in Name? A Brief History of the Musicians Seamounts

    The Musicians Seamounts are a province, or collection, of about 25 underwater mountains in the central Pacific Ocean just north of the main Hawaiian Islands and bordering the eastern boundary of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

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  • How Did They Get There? Biogeography of Pacific Islands and Seamounts

    High-density coral and sponge community

    Since the early days of ocean exploration, scientists have been fascinated with understanding the pattern of species distribution throughout the marine environment. This area of scientific study is known as marine biogeography.

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  • Fracture Zones

    Fracture Zones

    The structure and shape of the Musicians Seamounts, as revealed by mapping from NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, will provide clues to the tectonic environment in which the seamounts formed and their relationship to the nearby mid-ocean ridge.

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