Log Post: An Ocean of Opportunity: Appreciation and Reflection

As my time on board the R/V Falkor has drawn to a close, I look back and reflect on how truly amazing and wonderful this experience was. When I first stepped on board, I was not sure what to expect. Having never been on a research vessel before, this was a completely new experience for … Continued

Log Post: Rocking Around

The swell seems invisible, but is clearly revealed by Falkor’s rocking and rolling. It represents no challenge for the experienced crew and by the end of the day, ROV SuBastian is safely back on the aft deck after twelve hours of exploring the sea bottom. While the cloudscape glows a beautiful purple and orange tint, … Continued

Log Post: Our First Discovery!

One of the first things we did once we arrived at West Mata volcano was resurvey the seamount with R/V Falkor’s multibeam sonar system. We knew from previous repeated bathymetric surveys that West Mata has had frequent eruptions during the last decade, as we shared in our last blog. The last survey was in March 2016, so … Continued

Log Post: A Changing Landscape

West Mata is a Restless Volcano. West Mata Seamount is one of only two submarine volcanoes in the world where an active eruption has been directly observed on the seafloor. An expedition in November 2008 discovered evidence that West Mata was actively erupting while exploring the water column in the area for hydrothermal plumes – but the … Continued

Cruise: Underwater Fire: Studying the Submarine Volcanoes of Tonga

Aboard R/V Falkor, Dr. Ken Rubin and his research team will visit one of the most active underwater volcano sites in the world, the Meta Volcano group. There they will work to obtain a detailed geological understanding of up to 12 different submarine volcanoes, attempting to do this across a suite of volcanos for the very first time.

Cruise: Discovering Deep Sea Corals of the Phoenix Islands

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site on Earth. Approximately the size of California, PIPA was the first Marine Protected Area (MPA) of its kind. In October, Dr. Erik Cordes (Temple University) and his team will explore never seen before seamounts and atolls within PIPA with R/V Falkor and ROV SuBastian.

Log Post: The Secret Lives of Whales

During the first of three student cruises, the team aboard RV Falkor answered questions about whales’ decision-making process about how and where whales feed in the deep sea,while providing invaluable at-sea experience for students.

Person: Nina Faure Beaulieu

Nina Faure Beaulieu is currently completing her BA in Biological sciences at the University of Oxford and is then heading for a MRes in Ocean science at the University of Southampton with the National Oceanography Center. During her undergraduate degree, she developed an interest for marine biology and wrote her undergraduate project on microplastics and … Continued