New research expedition to study midwater ecosystems across American Samoa
The Ocean Exploration Trust's (OET) fifth expedition of 2024 is E Mamana Ou Gataifale I (NA164), a multi-vehicle exploration of midwater ecosystems across American Samoan waters.
The OET said the midwater ocean twilight zone is an important source of food for many marine animals, including commercial species like tuna and swordfish. The purpose of the expedition is to cooperatively explore this zone in priority areas identified by the American Samoan management and science community.
The expedition, funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI), will visit Vailuluʻu Seamount in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS), as well as other unexplored seamounts, to learn more about how open ocean and seafloor habitats interact.
Vailuluʻu Seamount is the only hydrothermally active seamount in American Samoa. Discovered in 1975, Vailuluʻu Seamount has since been mapped by multiple expeditions using high-resolution multibeam sonars but has not been explored since 2019. This expedition will return for the first surveys of the area since a 2022 cluster of seafloor earthquakes.
Over the last three years, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) has been advancing how multiple ocean exploration technologies can be integrated aboard the exploration vessel Nautilus, and this year, will bring these new capacities to American Samoa.
This expedition will utilise autonomous systems like Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s hybrid remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicle Mesobot and the University of Rhode Island’s Deep Autonomous Profiler Lander deployed from the ship and the University of New Hampshire’s uncrewed surface vehicle DriX operated from shore in Pago Pago.
The 18-day expedition will be live-streamed on NautilusLive.org, a 24-hour portal bringing expeditions from the field to people on shore via telepresence technology. The team of STEAM professionals will also connect directly to classrooms via free educational Q&A interactions from the onboard broadcast studio.
