MBARI's underwater mapping efforts off the Pacific Northwest have revealed almost 600 hydrothermal chimneys rising from the deep seafloor.

MBARI’s 2019 Annual Report provides a multimedia view of the institute’s latest research and technology.

A 30-year study off the California coast has revealed dramatic fluctuations in deep-sea animal communities.

Researchers are using an Environmental Sample Processor to detect endangered Bryde's whales in the Gulf of Mexico.

Humboldt squid communicate with each other using changing patterns of light and dark pigment in their skin.

Scientists analyze the threats faced by deep-sea animals that migrate vertically each day.

On today’s final dive of our expedition series, MBARI’s Benthic Ecology Group, working with Janet Voight (Field Museum Investigative Research Center) and Julia Sigwart (Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, University of California, Davis) are revisiting this work. Late Friday evening, the ROV Doc Ricketts’ large drawer was neatly loaded with forty-one, 1’ x 4” x …

Research in the depths of the Gulf of California give scientists a clue as to how climate change could affect fish communities.

Gregory Bongey Should you ever find yourself as a marine science student in your fifth year of a master’s program, your first, second, and third priorities are to defend your thesis as soon as possible. Unless of course, you receive an unexpected opportunity to join MBARI on a deep-sea research cruise. In that case, practicality …

Andrew DeVogelaere Today we split the science team to run ROV operations while preparing to relaunch our large, physical oceanography mooring. That allowed us to have an extra exploration dive at Davidson Seamount today. There is always a special excitement about exploration dives because we get to view areas that no human eyes have ever …

After two days working at Davidson Seamount it was time to return to Sur Ridge to find the Deep Coral Cam we dropped off on the first day of the cruise and move it to the spot where it will spend the next nine months. Before heading to Sur Ridge, we steamed back to Monterey …

Amanda Kahn Today was a mixed day of deploying and recovering moorings along with an ROV dive. In the morning, the sediment trap mooring we recovered yesterday was redeployed at the top of Sur Ridge. The sediment traps will remain there until December, collecting marine snow that rains down from the ocean’s surface. Corals and …

Andrew DeVogelaere After months of preparation and a full day of loading equipment, the crew boarded R/V Western Flyer at 4:00 a.m. Our main destination for the research cruise is Sur Ridge and its dense forests of deep-sea corals and sponges. Sur Ridge is located 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Point Sur, near the …

Time-lapse photography in the deep sea over 30 years reveals sponges "coughing" and moving across the seafloor.

The Acoustical Society of America recently announced MBARI Senior Scientist Kelly Benoit-Bird as the 2020 recipient of the Medwin Prize in Acoustical Oceanography.

MBARI engineers have developed a new robotic float for studying coastal waters.

Frank Press, a noted geophysicist and former member of MBARI’s board of directors, passed away on January 29, 2020.

Today was an exciting day because we thought we were going to be weathered out at first (GALE WATCH, NO!). Luck was on our side in the ‘hole of hope’ and the wind and waves enabled us to collect five species of ctenophores that we are currently studying. This is an important site for our …

As with the ctenophores, siphonophores are found from the ocean surface to the seafloor. Also like the ctenophores, many siphonophores are bioluminescent which makes them prime targets for the science team to investigate. Siphonophores range in size from 10 millimeters to 30 meters (less than half an inch to almost 100 feet)—longer than a blue …

The scientific team aboard the R/V Western Flyer this week is focused on learning more about the gelatinous creatures that inhabit the open midwaters of the ocean. This is the largest, and yet least understood, habitat on our planet. Most of the researchers are specifically studying ctenophores or siphonophores, or both. In today’s report we’ll …