Mona Canyon is an approximately 140-kilometer long, 30 kilometer-wide, and 4 kilometer-high submarine canyon located off the northwest coast of Puerto Rico. Geologists have been studying this canyon using mapping data for quite some time, but it was not until 2013 when the first visual surveys of Mona Canyon were conducted by the E/V Nautilus using their remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hercules. At the time, two dives took place to maximum depths of 1,975 meters (6,480 feet) and 2,832 meters (9,291 feet), respectively, to conduct the first visual characterization of the geology of the canyon. Given the enormous size of the canyon, and the broad interest by the scientific community to further explore this feature, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted two additional ROV dives in Mona Canyon in 2015, to maximum depths of 3,928 meters (12,887 feet) and 4,025 meters (13,205 feet), respectively. These dives built on the previous dives from 2013, and added important biological observations within the canyon.

When NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer returned to this region in 2018, there was once again interest from both biologists and geologists alike to further explore, sample, and survey Mona Canyon. Dive 12 of the Océano Profundo 2018 expedition explored the eastern wall of Mona Canyon, a very steep feature that had not been previously explored.