Summits for Science: Young Explorer Invites You to Seamounts of Anegada Passage

September 5, 2014

By Megan Cook

The ocean is home to many of the wonders of our planet – 72% of them to be exact. The deepest valleys, highest peaks, largest plains, and largest animal to ever live are all in our salty blue backyard right now. There are also mountains underwater – lots of mountains! Vast ridgelines peel around the world like zippers closing the boundaries of our ocean plates, and tens of thousands of seamounts dot the seafloor. Seamounts are isolated mountains, either active or extinct volcanoes jutting up from the seafloor, building some of the most unique and poorly understood ecosystems on our planet.

Rising sometimes miles off the seafloor, seamounts are hotspots for biodiversity in our oceans.  In the same way the world’s largest ball of yarn becomes a worthy detour to disrupt the monotony of a Midwestern road trip, the variation in topography and habitat structure of a seamount attracts life. Much of the ocean is homogenous open habitat; its richness comes from pockets of complex, highly productive sites. Seamounts are targeted by fisheries for their richness and throughout the world host unique ecosystems found nowhere in the surrounding deep water. These rising mountainous flanks are also important for ocean mixing as currents collide with cliffs, slopes dissipate tidal energy and deep water stirs with shallow.

Global seamount catalogues register over 13,000 peaks taller than 1500m. That’s ten times as many peaks as the Alps hidden under the waves. Scientists estimate another 100,000 seamounts taller than 1km remain uncharted. Most of the seamounts plotted on a chart have never been seen by human eyes. During this expedition we will begin to change that!

I invite you to come into the mountains and into the sea with me. I’m joining Dr. Robert Ballard and the Corps of Exploration on the ocean exploration vessel E/V Nautilus. Together as a team of expert scientists, robot ROV pilots, engineers, navigators, film professionals, teachers and student trainees we’ll explore the seamounts of the Anegada Passage for two weeks. 

Our ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) are equipped with mapping and sampling tools including high definition cameras that serve as our eyes in the deep. With revolutionary telepresence capability, footage live from the ROVs is broadcast from E/V Nautilus onto www.NautilusLive.org around the clock. You can join our Corps of Exploration on this interactive platform to submit questions and chat live with us as discoveries are made. I’m thrilled to be returning to the ship as a Lead Science Communication Fellow and bringing all the excitement to the Mission Blue community. Stay tuned to this blog for updates from the ship, deep-sea science decoded into water cooler chat, STEM career tips for young explorers, otherworldly seafloor creatures and general overflowing ocean enthusiasm.

Join E/V Nautilus on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and on the live feed at www.NautilusLive.org.

Megan Cook is a marine scientist, professional diver and enthusiasm volcano for all things blue. Awarded the OWUSS Rolex Scholarship as an emerging leader of ocean fields, she launched the Young Explorer program with Mission Blue to broaden the communication of ocean messages. This is Megan’s second year representing Mission Blue onboard the E/V Nautilus with Ocean Exploration Trust. Learn more about Megan on Facebook: Megan Cook- Ocean Ambassador or on Twitter: @MeganCook33

Featured image (top): The Exploration Vessel Nautilus is equipped with 4000-meter capable ROVs and the telepresence capacity to stream exploration live for a global audience. Image courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust.