Skip to content

Weather

The Okeanos Explorer is currently operating near an undersea feature called Pioneer Tablemount, southeast of Midway Atoll, 1,000 miles from Honolulu. This largely unexplored pinnacle rises from the seafloor over 5,000 meters deep to nearly the surface. Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 4.44.53 PM (2)A spectacular ROV dive is currently taking place this afternoon of March 4th, revealing incredible sea life such as the transparent sea cucumber at left. These creatures are usually seen on the bottom, but this one was found free swimming, its undulating body moving it steadily by, at a depth of over 1,000 meters. Viscera can be seen inside its clear outer body.

Unfortunately, gusting winds and high seas have forced cancellation of several ROV dives over the last few days, and postponed our planned weekend operations on the Battle of Midway site. We are holding out hope that the weather will abate and dives can take place early next week, though the forecast is not promising.

Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 10.42.44 AMThe image at right, from Natural Earth, gives an idea what we’re up against. With the view centered roughly over our operations area, this snapshot from March 1 shows a couple of major storm systems passing through the region. History shows a 20% chance of seas exceeding twelve feet during the winter months in this part of the world, and we are definitely falling within that unlucky circumstance.

Regardless of the weather, the mapping team has been extremely productive during the last couple of days and filled in some important gaps around Pioneer Bank. These efforts included the mapping of a completely new seamount to the west of Pioneer Bank Ridge.

Please check out our Expedition Portal to see live imagery, replays of earlier dives, and other information about this important and exciting NOAA expedition.