February - March 2016: Scientists continued 2015 Hohonu Moana expedition efforts to explore deep-water habitats in and around Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The expedition included work on seamounts in the Mid-Pacific Mountains while en route to port in Kwajalein.
Embley, R. W. and Rubin, K. H. (2018). Extensive young silicic volcanism produces large deep submarine lava flows in the NE Lau Basin. Bulletin of Volcanology, 80(4), 23. doi:10.1007/s00445-018-1211-7
Wicksten, M. K. (2017). Feeding on cnidarians by giant pycnogonids (Pycnogonida: Colossendeidae Jarzinsky, 1870) in the North Central Pacific and North Atlantic oceans. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 37(3), 359-360. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/rux034
March - April 2016: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer conducted 24-hour mapping operations to explore the largely unknown region surrounding the Wake Island Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM). This was the first of three cruises in the 2016 field season focused on deepwater exploration of the PRIMNM.
No known articles related to this expedition have been published at this time.
April - July 2016: NOAA and partners conducted a three-cruise expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information of unknown and poorly known areas in and around the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
July - August 2016: A team of scientists, media personnel, and educators sailed to the Arctic's Chukchi Borderlands onboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy. They investigated microbial communities in sea ice, water, and seafloor environments; water column (planktonic) organisms; invertebrate and fish seafloor (benthic) communities; as well as conducted observations of marine mammals and seabirds.
August - September 2016: The primary focus of this mission was to completely characterize the remains of a World War II Naval Battlefield. For years, NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary has been conducting a series of comprehensive surveys of WWII shipwrecks off North Carolina associated with the Battle of the Atlantic. In 2014, following years of research and searching, the remains of the KS-520 battle were discovered. Scientists revisited the region for further study.
August - September 2016: Mapping efforts focused on using NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer deepwater sonar systems to explore several unnamed, previously unexplored seamounts near Wake Island during a transit from Kwajalein Atoll to the operational working grounds near Wake Island, followed by final transit to Honolulu, Hawaii.
February 2016: The team conducted a shakedown of newly installed systems, tested data work flow and integration, and prepared for the rest of the field season. A primary objective of this cruise was to test the remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) in a controlled environment and train new ROV engineers.
No known articles related to this expedition have been published at this time.
March - April 2016: A University of Maine-led team conducted the first-ever deepwater exploration of Glacier Bay National Park using both diver-based surveys and a remotely operated vehicle.
No known articles related to this expedition have been published at this time.
June 2016: A team used OpenROV submersibles to explore the SS Tahoe shipwreck. They documented the expedition and engaged with virtual citizen explorers online and demonstrated best practices that can be adopted by the citizen exploration community at large. While not a NOAA-funded expedition, the project served as an opportunity for NOAA to help support a new citizen exploration model.
No known articles related to this expedition have been published at this time.
July - August 2016: NOAA and partners will conducted a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration cruise on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to collect critical baseline information in and around the Wake Island Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
August - September 2016: A team of scientists and engineers aboard NOAA Ship Pisces explored three deepwater canyons off the coast of North Carolina. Specifically, the team will target Keller, Pamlico, and Hatteras canyons.
November - December 2016: A team led by scientists from the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor traveled to the Mariana Back-arc, to explore newly discovered hydrothermal vents and the life they support.
Komai, T., and T. Giguere (2019), A new species of the alvinocaridid shrimp genus Rimicaris Williams & Rona, 1986 (Decapoda: Caridea) from hydrothermal vents on the Mariana Back Arc Basin, northwestern Pacific, Journal of Crustacean Biology, 1-11, doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruz046.
December 2016: The Okeanos team conducted two at-sea "shakedown" cruises, to test all of the ship’s mission systems to ensure everything is performing properly and that the ship is fully ready for 2017 expeditions. The first cruise was focused primarily on testing remotely operated vehicle and telepresence systems. The second cruise was dedicated to mapping and continued telepresence shakedown.
