Leading up to the start of the expedition, the on-ship expedition team was busy preparing the ship to get underway. To celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer hosted tours of the ship for over 40 guests from aquariums, labs, and other local partners and participated in a virtual Tri-Ship Connection with two other exploration and research vessels, Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus and Research Vessel (R/V) Falkor. Questions from this event ranged from telepresence technology to life at sea to the most exciting discoveries to date.
With mission preparations and refueling complete, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer departed Charleston, South Carolina, today, June 13, at about 9:30 am ET, en route to the first dive site of the expedition. The first dive will be tomorrow, June 14, at Blake Escarpment North investigating a small scarp that may host deep-sea corals and sponges. High-resolution bathymetry of this dive location was mapped last month during the first leg of this two-part Windows to the Deep 2018 expedition.
Expedition data collection has begun and overnight we will continue to map the seafloor along the way using the high-resolution bathymetry to help inform the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) trackline for the first dive. Visit here for more information on the mapping data we collect.