Expedition at Sea
Museum scientist Liz Shea, Ph.D. is at sea on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster on a research trip. We’ll post updates and reports from Liz here and on our social media!
August 30, 2025: And we’re off!
And we’re off! Over the next 13 days, 10 scientists, three ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) Global Explorer engineers, and NOAA crew will be at sea together on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster looking for and sampling deep-sea corals in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Follow along as we highlight our work each day!
August 31, 2025: Rough Weather
Before the sun set on our first full day, rough weather at the seamounts scrambled our plans. After a discussion with the Commanding Officer, the team set off to find a new spot – Jones Canyon, an unexplored canyon just north of Hudson Canyon. To prepare for our first dive, we stopped to practice deploying and recovering the ROV. The test was successful, and the ROV is ready for operations. We will arrive on site tonight and begin sampling the water column for environmental DNA (eDNA), which helps us to understand what species are lurking beneath the waves and beyond our view. Our first dive will be tomorrow morning – all systems go!
September 1, 2025: Adapt, Adapt, Adapt
At sea, you’ve got to be ready to adapt, adapt, adapt. Before we got to our first station, bad weather offshore caused us to change our original plan, but we adapted and found a new dive site further inshore. When we arrived on site, our water sampling protocol was a challenge at sea, so we adapted again (after 14+ hours of filtering) to streamline our efforts. The ROV was deployed as planned at 0800 this morning, but an unexpected issue brought us to a full stop and recovery of the vehicle. Fair to say it’s been a difficult 24 hours. Happily, our bird survey scientists from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found a bright spot for us to focus on – baby dolphins!
September 3, 2025: Setbacks
After a tough first dive, we’ve spent the last 2 days on the dock at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA. The engineering team is repairing the ROV, the eDNA team is streamlining the workflow to filter water, and the planning team is creating new dive plans to maximize our remaining time at sea. There have been a few frustrating setbacks including the unbelievable coincidence that all our replacement parts for the ROV and additional sampling bags for eDNA were on the same delayed flight out of Louisville, KY. Just another reminder that no matter how much planning is done beforehand, there are no guarantees that everything will go without a hitch. We remain optimistic that we will be headed out to the seamounts soon.
September 5, 2025: Bear or Bust!
The parts came for the ROV, and we left Woods Hole Thursday at 2:30 p.m. with all the gear repaired. We stopped near Martha’s Vineyard for a dunk test and a few system adjustments, and then got the all clear to head to Bear Seamount. It will take almost 24 hours to get there, but we are excited to get back to exploring!
September 6, 2025: Exploring Bear Seamount
We arrived at Bear Seamount and the conditions were finally just right for a full ROV dive. The Global Explorer (GEX) was deployed at 8 a.m., and reached bottom two hours later, more than 2000 m beneath the surface. Following the pre-determined waypoints, we surveyed and explored a small part of the eastern side of the seamount. We encountered several different habitat types ranging from steep, rocky slopes, to depressions filled with rubble, coral skeletons, and soft sediments. A few of these even contained skate egg cases! We were excited to see that Bear Seamount is home to such a diverse assemblage of organisms, including hard and soft corals, sponges and a variety of other invertebrates including brittle stars, sea stars, and crinoids (sea lilies).
September 7, 2025: Collecting Specimens
After seven hours exploring Bear Seamount, the ROV was recovered, secured on the back deck, and samples were retrieved from the various collecting containers. During the dive, we collected corals, and other invertebrates including sea stars, brittle stars and crinoids (sea lilies) and any unusual animals we encountered. When an animal is collected, a ‘georeferenced’ record is created so researchers will know the exact location where the organism was found. These data include latitude and longitude, as well as depth and date of collection. In the wet laboratory on the ship, we photograph each specimen and take a tissue sample for genetic barcoding. These specimens are then preserved and will be deposited in the invertebrate collections at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History.
September 8, 2025: Water Sampling
The weather has been relentless – wherever we go, the winds and waves follow. Although conditions were too rough to deploy the ROV, deploying CTDs to collect water for environmental DNA (eDNA) could still be conducted safely. So, we are maximizing our opportunities to collect eDNA samples. Each CTD deployment requires input from multiple scientists and crew members. The spatial ecologist plots the location of the dive, the Survey crew deploys and retrieves the CTD, the eDNA science team identifies the depth at which water samples are taken, and then spends hours (!) filtering the water once it’s recovered from the bottles.
eDNA is a relatively new technology that is used to identify organisms from small pieces of DNA shed into the water column. If these small bits can be amplified and identified, then an entire benthic community can be characterized in a single water sample!
September 9, 2025: Cups for Science
A main adaptation deep-sea creatures must face is increasing pressure with depth. But how do you explain the extreme forces these creatures face? Styrofoam cups! Increasing pressure causes the tiny air pockets within Styrofoam cups to compress – the deeper you go the smaller the cup shrinks. To help explain this process, scientists and crew aboard the Nancy Foster used their artistic skills to design cups using ordinary markers. The designs often mark something important or interesting about the cruise, a favorite sea creature, or holiday themes. Luckily, you don’t have to be terribly artistic to participate – even the simplest design is improved by a trip to the seafloor and back. Check out the before and after photos to see how much our cups shrank after a trip to 2,000 meters!
September 10, 2025: One Last Attempt
Thanks to the efforts of NOAA Ship Nancy Foster crew and the ROV team, we rallied for one more dive on our way back to shore. A lot of communication and in-the moment decisions allowed this to happen. We got permission to come in on the second tide of the day instead of the first (buying us 6 hours of potential dive time); due to good weather, we made better time travelling back towards shore than expected (+ 4 hours); we opted out of one last eDNA cast so we could leave our position early (+ 2 hours); and we agreed to start operations 2 hours earlier than normal (+ 2 hours). The ROV will deploy at 0630 at Hydrographer Canyon. We found amazing coral habitat at Hydrographer Canyon last year so we are optimistic. This year, we picked a similar depth on the opposite side of the canyon to increase the likelihood of finding corals.
September 10/11, 2025: Success!
Yesterday’s dive did not disappoint! We were able to spend almost 8 hours on bottom looking at corals and collecting samples. As is true for every dive, we observed some animals, behaviors and amazing habitats that we had not seen before. Once the specimens were back on deck, a tissue sample was taken from each one for genetics work, and then each specimen was photographed before being fixed in preservative for long-term storage at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The imagery and samples collected today provide important information that are critical to better understand the natural resources and ecosystems in and around the Monument and will help us to characterize the biodiversity as well as the type and extent of habitats represented. It is always a great feeling to end a cruise on a high note!
September 13, 2025: Wrap up
Fieldwork is never easy and this trip was plagued with weather and equipment problems. Twenty-four hour water filtering sessions, and dawn to dusk battles to stay upright while photographing birds in the wind and rain were brutal. Nevertheless, the science and ship crews proved their mettle and worked hard to maximize the amount and types of information gathered during the cruise. It will likely be a long time until we are back working in the Monument. Until then, we will process these samples, identify organisms, analyze water samples for eDNA, and annotate photographs and video footage. All the data we collected will move us closer to a better understanding of the Monument.
With any luck, we will be back out next year (but hopefully in June)!
