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We are boldly exploring our unknown Ocean to excite interest and inform the wise stewardship of our planet.

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The Doldrums Fracture Zone
Our planet’s longest mountain range is located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submarine volcanic mountain chain stretches for more than 16,000 kilometers, shaping Earth’s geology where tectonic plates drift apart. As the plates separate, mantle material rises, partially melts, and generates magma that forms new oceanic crust. The movement of plates forms wrinkles and lines along the planet’s surface, known as fault zones, which tell the story of Earth’s tectonic history. These fault zones circulate water into the seafloor and through the crust, later releasing it with new chemical compositions— some of which feed deep-sea bacteria that fuel thriving ecosystems in the deepest, darkest parts of the Ocean. While chemosynthetic ecosystems are well documented along the ridge, little is known about what lives on the fault zones. The Doldrums Megatransform System is one of these fault zones formed where offset ridge segments are linked by transform faults as the Atlantic seafloor spreads apart. Here, tectonic plates scrape and slide past one another, creating fascinating geologic formations like fault scarps and sedimented basins, both of which can host areas of chemically altered seawater and deep-sea ecosystems. Dr. Aaron Micallef of MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and the international team will travel to the Doldrums Fracture Zone to map and identify interesting geological features, and then use ROV SuBastian to visualize them. Key to their work will be The Childlike Empress AUV, which will both create high-resolution maps of the seafloor and use its sensors to sniff out interesting chemicals that indicate venting. This expedition marks the first time Schmidt Ocean Institute’s new AUV will be used for scientific research.
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In the coming years, our expeditions will explore understudied regions around all seven continents in our global Ocean.

Latest Expedition

See all

The Doldrums Fracture Zone
Our planet’s longest mountain range is located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submarine volcanic mountain chain stretches for more than 16,000 kilometers, shaping Earth’s geology where tectonic plates drift apart. As the plates separate, mantle material rises, partially melts, and generates magma that forms new oceanic crust. The movement of plates forms wrinkles and lines along the planet’s surface, known as fault zones, which tell the story of Earth’s tectonic history. These fault zones circulate water into the seafloor and through the crust, later releasing it with new chemical compositions— some of which feed deep-sea bacteria that fuel thriving ecosystems in the deepest, darkest parts of the Ocean. While chemosynthetic ecosystems are well documented along the ridge, little is known about what lives on the fault zones. The Doldrums Megatransform System is one of these fault zones formed where offset ridge segments are linked by transform faults as the Atlantic seafloor spreads apart. Here, tectonic plates scrape and slide past one another, creating fascinating geologic formations like fault scarps and sedimented basins, both of which can host areas of chemically altered seawater and deep-sea ecosystems. Dr. Aaron Micallef of MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and the international team will travel to the Doldrums Fracture Zone to map and identify interesting geological features, and then use ROV SuBastian to visualize them. Key to their work will be The Childlike Empress AUV, which will both create high-resolution maps of the seafloor and use its sensors to sniff out interesting chemicals that indicate venting. This expedition marks the first time Schmidt Ocean Institute’s new AUV will be used for scientific research.
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From grants for caregivers to an artist-at-sea residency, our programs strive to deepen knowledge and inspire a connection with our planet’s life support system.

Latest Expedition

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The Doldrums Fracture Zone
Our planet’s longest mountain range is located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submarine volcanic mountain chain stretches for more than 16,000 kilometers, shaping Earth’s geology where tectonic plates drift apart. As the plates separate, mantle material rises, partially melts, and generates magma that forms new oceanic crust. The movement of plates forms wrinkles and lines along the planet’s surface, known as fault zones, which tell the story of Earth’s tectonic history. These fault zones circulate water into the seafloor and through the crust, later releasing it with new chemical compositions— some of which feed deep-sea bacteria that fuel thriving ecosystems in the deepest, darkest parts of the Ocean. While chemosynthetic ecosystems are well documented along the ridge, little is known about what lives on the fault zones. The Doldrums Megatransform System is one of these fault zones formed where offset ridge segments are linked by transform faults as the Atlantic seafloor spreads apart. Here, tectonic plates scrape and slide past one another, creating fascinating geologic formations like fault scarps and sedimented basins, both of which can host areas of chemically altered seawater and deep-sea ecosystems. Dr. Aaron Micallef of MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and the international team will travel to the Doldrums Fracture Zone to map and identify interesting geological features, and then use ROV SuBastian to visualize them. Key to their work will be The Childlike Empress AUV, which will both create high-resolution maps of the seafloor and use its sensors to sniff out interesting chemicals that indicate venting. This expedition marks the first time Schmidt Ocean Institute’s new AUV will be used for scientific research.
Read More

Experience the wonder of our global Ocean via immersive galleries of art, scientific discoveries, and film.

Latest Expedition

See all

The Doldrums Fracture Zone
Our planet’s longest mountain range is located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submarine volcanic mountain chain stretches for more than 16,000 kilometers, shaping Earth’s geology where tectonic plates drift apart. As the plates separate, mantle material rises, partially melts, and generates magma that forms new oceanic crust. The movement of plates forms wrinkles and lines along the planet’s surface, known as fault zones, which tell the story of Earth’s tectonic history. These fault zones circulate water into the seafloor and through the crust, later releasing it with new chemical compositions— some of which feed deep-sea bacteria that fuel thriving ecosystems in the deepest, darkest parts of the Ocean. While chemosynthetic ecosystems are well documented along the ridge, little is known about what lives on the fault zones. The Doldrums Megatransform System is one of these fault zones formed where offset ridge segments are linked by transform faults as the Atlantic seafloor spreads apart. Here, tectonic plates scrape and slide past one another, creating fascinating geologic formations like fault scarps and sedimented basins, both of which can host areas of chemically altered seawater and deep-sea ecosystems. Dr. Aaron Micallef of MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and the international team will travel to the Doldrums Fracture Zone to map and identify interesting geological features, and then use ROV SuBastian to visualize them. Key to their work will be The Childlike Empress AUV, which will both create high-resolution maps of the seafloor and use its sensors to sniff out interesting chemicals that indicate venting. This expedition marks the first time Schmidt Ocean Institute’s new AUV will be used for scientific research.
Read More

Seeking the Seeps

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The unusually bright Oregon sun beams down on me as I watch the soaring Astoria bridge recede into the background. The R/V Falkor

But instead of shipwrecks, we’ll be hunting bubbles. Methane bubbles, to be precise. And when it comes to hunting bubbles, you can’t get much more experienced than our crew. Between Schmidt Ocean Institute, my own agency, the U.S. Geological Survey

This is particularly exciting for me, because I am an ecologist, focusing on benthic communities living in the seafloor. I enjoy studying all of the puzzle pieces that fit together to allow these ecosystems to flourish, even in extreme conditions like these.

The concept of a food web is well-known, with strands connecting each part, but what anchors these food webs is often difficult to determine. That anchor is the baseline source of energy, or food, in this case.

In these deep places, where no light from the surface reaches and organic material drifting down from the surface, also known as marine snow, is unpredictable, some organisms have developed the ability to rely on the methane gas that bubbles up from seeps in the seafloor.

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I have studied these kinds of organisms in many locations, but now, on the Falkor, I have got a unique opportunity to study the methane itself. And with my colleagues from USGS,

Some of the most interesting things we will be getting to grapple with are our equipment and technology. In addition to the powerful multibeam scanners and other sensors that Falkor has on board the ROV SuBastian