What’s in your Pocket
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and huge scale of an expedition to the deepest trench in the world, with big landers...
More
Hadal Lander at about 6000 meters
Daily Expedition Photos and Video
Check out our daily photo gallery. Photos: Paul Yancey, Leighton Rolley, Linda Tatreau, Chloe Weinstock, Thom Linley. Video Clips from the Cruise: Timelapse mobilization on...
More
SOI/ L. Tatreau
At the End of the Journey
The cruise is over. 30 busy days at sea finished. We have completed the first ever comprehensive study of the ocean’s greatest depths. Unlike earlier...
More
SOI/ Paul Yancey
Sharing the Passion
We will all be heading home in a day or two. Often the person that I sit beside on a plane will ask companionably where...
More
SOI/ L. Tatreau
Where Are We, Where Are We Going
Marine Technician Jimbo (Paul Duncan) has spent all night, every night, for 24 nights keeping the Falkor’s multibeam sonar operational and recording data. The sonar...
More
SOI/Anna Downing
The Deepest Living Animals
The Sirena Deep: it's 10,700 m (6.6 miles) deep and largely unexplored. Yesterday on the Falkor we successfully retrieved three landers from Sirena. The Rock Grabber...
More
SOI/ Jill Bourque
Everything Including the Kitchen Sink (and Refrigerator)
Science at sea is not just science, but rather a cooperative effort between science, endurance, and creativity. Imagine that you are going to be on...
More
SOI/ L. Tatreau
Life at Sea – Are We Spoiled
Dry lab, wet lab, control room, garage, deck space, cold box, storage—I could easily write a story about the planning that went into making the...
More
SOI/ Jill Bourque
Survival in Mariana Trench
How would you survive if you were living in a cold dark place with limited food supply and tonnes of water above you? Well, that...
More
SOI/ Paul Yancey
What Happens when Food Reaches the Sea Floor
The challenges inherent to deep-sea biology can drive many a sane reasonable scientist to the verge of insanity. These challenges include extended cruises of 30...
More
SOI/ Linda Tatreau
Anatomy of a Lander
This expedition employs many pieces of equipment called landers. They can collect samples and provide a glimpse into the Hadal world. Landers are versatile tools...
More
SOI/ Linda Tatreau
So, you want to go to sea – Part Two
Everyone loves a good sea story. Part One, So You Want to go to Sea, was about the people who make them. Part Two continues. Sergiusz Bachniak -...
More
SOI/ Oceanlab Thomas Linley
If You Love Something Let it Go
Abby and I have been through a lot in our seven years together. From the frigid cold-water coral reefs of the Arctic Circle to the...
More
SOI/ Stuart Piertney
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Think about the last time you went for a swim in the ocean. If you're anything like me you undoubtedly got water in your mouth,...
More
SOI/ Phil
The Little Pink Fish in the Deep
The world is full of natural wonders that delight our eyes and inspire our hearts: the mountains of New Zealand, the redwoods of California, and...
More
SOI/Stuart Piertney
Amphipod-mania
I’ve always been a fish person. Like many, I have long been captivated by the colorful triggerfish and wrasses of the reef, the coiling strangeness...
More
SOI/ Caitlin Plowman
Where are the Gonads
This is science so we can’t be shy - let's take a closer look at gonads. This is science so we can’t be shy. Gonads...
MoreSo, You Want to go to Sea
In short, yes you do! The expedition thus far has been so much fun. Falkor is a marvelous ship that is both comfortable for living...
More
SOI/ Linda Tatreau
Spaghetti and Elephants – Measurements Explained
So the sun rises on another day of science. Science itself doesn’t sleep and throughout the night the ship has been slowly mapping over our...
More
SOI/ Leighton Rolley
The Mariana Paradox
Research into the deepest ecosystem on Earth is currently in somewhat of a quagmire. The technical challenges of the past no longer exist and the...
More
SOI/ Stuart Piertney
Extreme Evolution
The deep ocean trenches like the Mariana are fascinating places to study evolution. For species to be able to survive and thrive in the extreme...
More
SOI/ Jill Bourque
Dirty Secrets at the Bottom of the Trench
If you have ever played in the mud as a child and were consumed with delight then you’ll understand how this expedition feels for me,...
More
SOI/ Paul Yancey
An MT in the MT (Mariana Trench)
This is my 68th science cruise as a Marine Technician and my first at the Mariana Trench –a career highlight for those who work in...
More
SOI/ Paul Yancey
Sink It – The First Lander Recoveries
Sink it—bring it up, sink it—bring it up. Sinking the equipment is fun, but bringing it back is the real thrill. A lander is a...
More
Paul Yancey
Life Under Pressure – 100 Elephants on Your Head
One hundred adult elephants standing on your head. That is about the weight you would feel at the bottom of the Mariana Trench from nearly...
More
SOI/ Linda Tatreau
Who’s Who and So Much More
I am possibly the luckiest high school marine biology teacher on the planet. Here I am headed to the Sirena Deep with some of the...
More
P.Fryer & M.J. Mottl (1997)
A rock hound with a bunch of biologists
Trenches fascinate me for a lot of reasons. They are the one place on Earth where geology creates the most spectacular events. Trenches form where...
More
P. Yancey
Studying the ecology and geology of the Mariana Trench – the deepest place on earth
Ocean trenches, the most hidden habitat on Earth (6000-11,000m), account for the deepest 45% of the oceans. This enigmatic environment is called the hadal zone...
More