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 …

In an intricate underwater robot ballet, two of MBARI's underwater robots recently shot video of each other in the depths of Monterey Bay.

Little red jellies are commonplace near the deep seafloor in Monterey Bay. Now scientists are finding that their evolution and relationships to one another are probably incorrect.

Deep-Sea Connect provides a new and relatively inexpensive method for connecting instruments to MBARI's MARS ocean observatory.

Marine Chemist Andrea Fassbender received the Early Career Scientist Leadership Award.

Wrapping up the cruise and the year: It is the last day of the last research cruise of the R/V Western Flyer for 2019. We have had a busy and exciting four days exploring the depths of Sur Ridge and Davidson Seamount with the ROV Doc Ricketts. We have explored the Octopus Garden, measured the …

Updates from researchers on the R/V Western Flyer: Monday, December 16, 2019 Jim Barry Taking the pulse of the Octopus Garden: We were excited to send the ROV down 3,300 meters (just over two miles!) to the Octopus Garden, a site discovered a couple years ago where thousands of female octopuses nest in warm hydrothermal springs. …

  We dropped lines and headed out into the thick fog at just before 7:00 a.m. on this Friday the 13th. Hopefully the fog isn’t an omen of some sort. The Western Flyer headed for Sur Ridge, a rocky undersea ridge about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Moss Landing. The swell from a large …

Using advanced echosounders, MBARI researchers are measuring the distribution, abundance, type, size, and movement of predators and their prey in the deep sea.

During a recent survey off the coast of Big Sur, MBARI researchers discovered thousands of mysterious holes or pits in the seafloor.

In a new paper in Science magazine, researchers describe an experiment that turned the seafloor cable on MBARI’s MARS ocean observatory into the equivalent of 10,000 seismic stations on the ocean floor.

Henk-Jan and Stella Scheer We are guest scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and are very happy to join the MBARI midwater expedition on the Western Flyer. During this week, we have been documenting and collecting a range of midwater animals. Such in situ observations provide much more than an image alone. …

The word from Captain George Gunther was that we might have a short dive Tuesday due to deteriorating weather. This was seconded by the modern sailor’s favorite tool, windy.com. But first thing in the morning, the winds were light and we began our dive at 6:30 a.m., as always, feeling optimistic and excited about what …