NOAA Ocean Explorer Podcast

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire 2007 (NZASRoF'07) expedition that will take place on the Kermadec Arc, the second Ocean Explorer expedition to the Kermadec Arc. Video courtesy of New Zealand American Submarine Ring of Fire 2007 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 (SRoF'04) expedition to the Mariana Arc. This movie shows the discovery of the Champagne vent at northwest Eifuku volcano, where bubbles of liquid carbon dioxide are actively venting from sea-floor hot springs. This unusual phenomenon is due to the fact that the emissions from NW Eifuku volcano are particularly gas-rich. The high pressure at this depth keeps the carbon dioxide in a liquid state. Scientist discovered th Champagne vent at a depth of 1,607 meters (5272 feet nearly 1 mile deep). Video courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.

This 2007 expedition to the Cayman Islands will set new benchmarks in ocean exploration technical diving research. Remarkable advances in this technology will allow for divers to share the excitement of the rarely explored Twilight Zone discoveries in a much more personal way. Video footage courtesy of Marc Slattery, courtesy of Cayman Islands Twilight Zone 2007 Exploration, NOAA-OE.

This 2007 expedition to the Cayman Islands will set new benchmarks in ocean exploration technical diving research. Remarkable advances in this technology will allow for divers to share the excitement of the rarely explored Twilight Zone discoveries in a much more personal way. Video footage courtesy of Marc Slattery, courtesy of Cayman Islands Twilight Zone 2007 Exploration, NOAA-OE.

This 2007 expedition to the Cayman Islands will set new benchmarks in ocean exploration technical diving research. Remarkable advances in this technology will allow for divers to share the excitement of the rarely explored Twilight Zone discoveries in a much more personal way. Video footage courtesy of Marc Slattery, courtesy of Cayman Islands Twilight Zone 2007 Exploration, NOAA-OE.

In the frigid waters off the coast of Greenland scientists are getting valuable data from narwhals - the most ice loving whales in the world. Narwhals, beluga and bowhead whales, which you can hear in the background, make their homes in the Arctic. There are about 100,000 narwhals in the world, and the vast majority of them - about 50,000 to 70,000 - live in the Arctic waters of Greenland. Audio courtesy of Tracking Narwhals in Greenland 2006-2007, Kristin Laidre, NOAA-OE.

The Crevices at 708 meters (2323 feet) of a hydrothermal vent site are occupied by thriving aggregations of cutthroat (synaphobranchid) eels. These eels, which have now been identified as Dysommina rugosa, are known from trawl samples in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but have never before been studied in their natural habitat. The only common metazoan (multicellular) animals occupying these low-temperature hydrothermal vents, preliminary work indicates that they use the vent only as a place to live. They seem to feed not on chemosynthetic bacteria, but on crustaceans that pass by Nafanua’s summit in the currents. Video footage courtesy of UCSB, Univ. S. Carolina, WHOI, NOAA-OE.

While much of under-ice diving is similar to regular diving, there are a few important differences. First, the divers wear drysuits instead of wetsuits. These dry suits are sealed at the wrist and the neck and don't let any water in beyond the seals. Second, under-ice diving is usually performed using compressed air, not other mixed gases and the regulators used are specifically designed to be used in temperatures below freezing. Most different from regular diving operations, under-ice divers are tethered to the surface. Video footage courtesy of Shawn Harper, The Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005 Exploration, NOAA-OE.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the deep-sea cold water corals located and sampled from poorly studied middle slope (360-800 meter) coral banks, from Cape Lookout, NC to southeastern FL covering over 650 nautical miles (1,205 km). Video courtesy of Ross et al, NOAA-OE, HBOI and Art Howard.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 (SRoF'04) expedition to the Mariana Arc. Video taken by the ROPOS ROV at the edge of Brimstone Pit near the summit of NW Rota-1 submarine volcano, showing ash and sulfur-laden eruptions from the crater. The crater is at a depth of 555 meters (1820 feet). The yellow color of the billowing clouds is due to droplets of molten sulfur in the plume bursts. Video courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 (SRoF'04) expedition to the Mariana Arc. Video taken by the ROPOS ROV at the edge of Brimstone Pit near the summit of NW Rota-1 submarine volcano, showed a burst of ash, sulfur, and small rocks from the crater. This type of activity has never before been witnessed and documented on a submarine volcano. Video courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2004 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.

View colorful highlights of deep-sea marine life from the Gulf of Alaska, including fan corals, vase sponges, basket stars and squid. This video comes from a NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration mission to study unexplored seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska. 13 dives were made in the titanium-hulled submersible Alvin to collect this fascinating video from more than 3000 feet below the surface of the sea. Video courtesy of Peter Etnoyer, WHOI, NOAA, the Alvin Group, and the 2002 GOA Expedition science party.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 (SRoF'06) expedition to the Mariana Arc. While the pilots were trying to tend to a troublesome suction sampler at 560 meters (1840 feet), a large burst from the Brimstone Pit (which clearly has two side-by-side eruptive vents) almost engulfs the vehicle in an ash plume. Video courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.

After all the months of preparation, the extremely exciting Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 (SRoF'06) expedition on the research vessel (R/V) Melville with the Jason II remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the hectic follow-up period of responding to the media requests for stories on the eruption — we can now reflect on this rich experience. When we departed Guam on April 18, we had high expectations, but I don't think any one of us suspected the full magnitude of the discoveries we were about to make. We really pushed the envelope of exploration on one of Earth's most extreme environments: the shallow submarine volcanoes of the Mariana arc.

Watch a NOAA video podcast on the Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 (SRoF'06) expedition dive to the Mariana Arc, Daikoku submarine volcano. Molten sulfur and volcanic gases are bubbling out of a vent along the far wall of Sulfur Cauldron, keeping the partially-crusted surface of the pond undulating. Sometimes the heaving is so great that pieces of crust near the vent break off, tip on end, and are pulled downward by the convecting currents in the pond. Video courtesy of Submarine Ring of Fire 2006 Exploration, NOAA Vents Program, NOAA-OE.