Ocean Exploration Matters

Seventy percent of Earth is covered by the ocean. Ninety percent of the ocean is considered "deep," with a depth of greater than 200 meters (656 feet). Yet only slightly more than a quarter of the ocean has been mapped at high resolution and just a fraction of that has been visually surveyed and explored. Given this, can we truly say that we “know” our own ocean? And if we don’t, how do we manage or protect it and the resources it holds?

Take a deep dive with us as we look at several of the reasons why exploring our ocean is so important.

Download largest version (mp4, 72.3 MB).

A silky medusa, Colobonema sericeum, seen during a mid-water transect on Dive 03 of the third Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition. — Download largest version (jpg, 1.1 MB).

Panning up from the pool, D2 imaged long, blue-gray-black streaks of stained sediment on the otherwise tan-colored slope above the brine pool. — Download largest version (jpg, 799 KB).

This snailfish was seen resting on a closed anemone at 758 meters (2,487 feet) depth during Dive 07 of the Seascape Alaska 3 expedition. — Download largest version (jpg, 1.2 MB).

This octopus was observed slowly making its way across the seafloor at a depth of 2,530 meters (8,300 feet) during Dive 06 of the 2023 Shakedown + EXPRESS West Coast Exploration expedition off the coast of Oregon. — Download largest version (jpg, 759 KB).

The depths of the ocean are cold, dark, and under intense pressure. It was once thought that these conditions were too extreme to support much life, but we now know that is far from true. From the ocean’s twilight zone, where the last vestiges of sunlight begin to dwindle, to otherworldly terrains on the deep seafloor, the ocean harbors immense biodiversity...and so much of it remains unseen and poorly understood. Video and images courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration.

The deep ocean impacts our very survival, yet remains poorly understood.

The ocean impacts all of us, whether you live in a coastal community or in a landlocked area. The ocean plays a role in everything from the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the transportation of the goods we buy to our daily weather and longer-term climate trends.

Most of our knowledge of the ocean lies in shallower waters. However, deeper waters continue to grow in their importance to our nation. Many fisheries are based in deep waters, providing food, jobs, and livelihoods. The deep ocean holds reserves of oil, gas, precious metals, and rare minerals. Within ocean depths may lie cures to crippling diseases and sources of other natural products with potential as pharmaceuticals, enzymes, cosmetics, and more.

How will we know what is out there if we aren’t even looking for it?

A ferromanganese-coated cobble more than 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter was collected during Dive 16 of the 2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones expedition. We also collected many smaller ferromanganese nodules and sediment using the remotely operated vehicle’s suction sampler. The size and distribution of the nodules remained similar throughout the length of the ferromanganese nodule field traversed during the dive. — Ferromanganese nodules, which accrete on the ocean floor, are composed predominantly of manganese-oxides minerals, though they usually also contain high amounts of iron and can also accumulate cobalt, nickel, copper, and other trace and rare metals, making them potentially valuable resources. *Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones: New England and Corner Rise Seamounts.* Download largest version (jpg, 1.6 MB).

Northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus) seen while diving in Uchupi Canyon during the 2021 ROV Shakedown. — Some deep-ocean organisms, like this sponge, make chemical compounds or substances that can be turned into biopharmaceutical products or used as biomedical research tools. *Image courtesy of Amy Wright.* Download largest version (jpg, 2.19 MB).

Good management of ocean resources is critical, but we can’t manage what we don’t know.

The ocean is an interconnected network of animals, plants, microorganisms, rocks, and other structures. When a change happens to one component of an ocean ecosystem, it can have dramatic impacts on the ecosystem as a whole. We depend on the ocean for the many services it provides. Yet we can unintentionally set an ecosystem off balance without intending to simply by extracting and using marine resources such as seafood and energy. Resource managers and ocean users alike need environmental information to make good decisions.

We need to be careful and conservative in how we use our ocean and its resources to ensure future generations can do the same. Careful practice requires good management that balances use, enjoyment, and protection. But if we don’t know what’s out there, how can we effectively manage it?

By exploring unknown reaches of the ocean and putting gained knowledge into the hands of management and regulatory communities, exploration helps to ensure that the ocean is not just managed, but managed in a wise and sustainable way.

Foundational data collected during ocean exploration can help us to understand, and therefore protect, our ocean. These data are often instrumental in making decisions to protect some of our nation’s most important marine places. Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Deep Connections 2019. Download largest version (mp4, 315.5 MB).

Ocean exploration knowledge, tools, and technologies can be applied elsewhere, enhancing resilience and recovery.

Oftentimes we don’t think about our limited knowledge of the deep ocean until after disaster strikes and it’s too late. An oil spill or a missing aircraft can quickly demonstrate how little we know about these deepwater environments and how difficult it is to get timely, actionable information about them.

Deep reaches of the ocean are places with near-freezing temperatures, corrosive saltwater, limited or no light, and intense pressure. Not only do we not always know what’s found at ocean depths, we also often are lacking the tools and technology needed to get to and survey these extreme places.

Early ocean explorers used lead lines to map the seafloor, collecting data one laborious cast at a time. Our current technology allows us to deploy ships and other vehicles with increasingly sophisticated systems for mapping the seafloor, measuring ocean characteristics, and sampling the marine environment. Increased use of highly autonomous vehicles is greatly increasing the pace and scope of exploration.

NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners are continuously working to push the boundaries of technology, testing new tools or applications that will allow the ocean exploration community to explore deeper, farther, and more comprehensively than previously possible. Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2021 Technology Demonstration. Download largest version (mp4, 289 MB).

Before, not after, a disaster or crisis strikes—that is when we need knowledge about the environment. Ocean exploration provides the basic environmental information needed to respond appropriately. Additionally, the tools and technologies being developed for exploration can be transferred for use in emergency situations such as response to an oil spill.

Without basic knowledge and technologies, how can we respond in the face of an ocean crisis and how can we know that our response is the right one?

Video courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Our ocean is not a static place.

The environment on Earth is constantly changing. Many of those changes are happening faster than ever. The ocean plays a critical role in many of these changes, from the increasing frequency and severity of coastal storms to sea level rise and warming global temperatures. Communities, particularly those in coastal areas, must make increasingly difficult decisions to stay safe, resilient, and economically sound.

Through ocean exploration, from mapping and characterizing previously unseen seafloor to collecting and disseminating data about the water column, we can establish baseline information needed to better understand environmental change.

This baseline knowledge fills gaps in the unknown, delivering the reliable and authoritative science that is foundational to providing foresight about future conditions and informing the decisions we confront every day on this dynamic planet.

Beneath the seafloor lie vast stores of methane, a potent greenhouse gas produced by the breakdown of organic material by the Earth’s heat or by deep-sea microbes. This methane is sometimes released in seeps that occur along active tectonic boundaries. These seeps may provide important habitat for marine life and could play an important role in ocean warming. Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Seascape Alaska. Download largest version (mp4, 79.3 MB).

While the ocean exploration community continues to grow, despite its importance, the number of people exploring our ocean remains small.

Given the immense breadth and scope of ocean exploration, no single person or organization could ever go it alone. The pooling of resources, expertise, and capabilities through strategic partnerships is paramount to bridging gaps in our understanding of the ocean.

NOAA Ocean Exploration is one organization focused on exploring our unknown ocean. As the only federal organization currently dedicated to ocean exploration, we work closely with government agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, the private sector, local communities, and others to identify requirements and needs.

We collaborate with stakeholders to build ocean exploration campaigns—multi-partner, multi-ship, multi-year initiatives to map and explore areas of national importance. We provide partnership coordination, funding, staff, tools, and expertise needed to develop exploration missions that deliver rigorous, systematic observations and documentation of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and archaeological aspects of the ocean. We work to get scientists to uncharted areas; to design, test, and implement new deep-sea technologies; and to bring the wonders of ocean exploration to everyone. And, during and after expeditions, our system of data management ensures that collected information arrives quickly – and accurately – into the hands of those who need it to make timely decisions.

Every day, our unique capabilities are helping to advance knowledge and understanding needed to help communities, businesses, and governments make smart choices to protect lives, property, and economic well being.

Published August 13, 2024