Latest news with #oceanexploration
Arabian Business
a day ago
- Science
- Arabian Business
OceanQuest: Saudi-backed initiative aims to revolutionise deep-ocean discovery
In a bold step underscoring Saudi Arabia's growing commitment to global science and sustainability, OceanQuest has emerged as a not-for-profit foundation with an ambitious mission: to accelerate the discovery of the deep ocean and illuminate one of Earth's final frontiers — the ocean depths beyond 200 meters. In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business Dr. Martin Visbeck, CEO of OceanQuest outlined the foundation's vision for inclusive, technologically driven exploration and its unique role in shaping the future of ocean science through global partnerships and local empowerment. A new era of ocean discovery 'OceanQuest was created to explore the unknown — not just for science, but for humanity,' said Dr. Visbeck. 'We focus on deep-sea environments like seamounts — underwater volcanoes that are biodiversity hotspots, influence ocean mixing, and may even serve as natural carbon sinks.' With a particular focus on underexplored regions such as the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Tropical and South Atlantic, OceanQuest is using robotics, digital twins, and AI to unveil the secrets of the deep. The goal: to drive innovation, spark public excitement, and make deep-ocean science more accessible and impactful. The Red Sea: A natural laboratory As a Saudi-based organisation, OceanQuest considers the Red Sea a critical part of its geographical and scientific focus. 'The Red Sea is geologically young, warm, and saline — a truly unique marine ecosystem. Its deep zones remain largely unexplored,' Dr. Visbeck noted. By comparing the Red Sea's deep-sea features with seamount systems in other regions, OceanQuest hopes to uncover global patterns in biodiversity and resilience — all while elevating the Red Sea's role in the global ocean narrative. Collaboration across the global south At the heart of OceanQuest's model is a commitment to equitable global collaboration, with a particular focus on the Global South. The foundation has prioritized early partnerships in: Brazil, working with local institutions to study the Vitória-Trindade Seamount Chain and engage early-career researchers across Latin America. South Africa, building on the success of the Around Africa Expedition by expanding cooperation to neighbouring countries including Mozambique, Tanzania, and Madagascar. Cape Verde, where OceanQuest continues to explore regional seamount ecosystems and strengthen local scientific capabilities. 'These are not one-off engagements,' said Dr. Visbeck. 'We're building long-term partnerships designed to empower local leadership and create shared access to deep-ocean science.' Investing in the next generation OceanQuest places early-career ocean professionals (ECOPs) at the centre of its mission. From hands-on expedition training to global mentorship opportunities, the foundation sees ECOPs as future leaders in ocean governance, science, and technology. 'Supporting ECOPs isn't just capacity-building — it's an investment in the global ocean leadership we need tomorrow,' said Dr. Visbeck. The approach aligns with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which highlights the importance of youth engagement in creating long-term impact. Technology as a force multiplier OceanQuest's commitment to cutting-edge technology is central to its strategy. The foundation is building capabilities to deploy fleets of robotic systems that can collect real-time imagery and environmental data from seamounts. This data feeds into digital repositories and digital twins — AI-powered simulations that model ocean ecosystems with precision and scale. These technologies enable low-impact exploration and continuous data collection, revolutionising how scientists interact with the ocean. 'Storytelling is the bridge between science and society,' Dr. Visbeck emphasised. Whether it's a young researcher on their first expedition or a robotic system discovering a new coral species, OceanQuest believes in the power of human narratives to make science relatable and impactful. By turning data into stories, the foundation hopes to engage a global audience, raise awareness about the ocean's importance, and foster a sense of collective responsibility. Lessons from the around Africa expedition OceanQuest's first major initiative, the Around Africa Expedition with OceanX, provided valuable insights. Highlights included: African scientific leadership, with regional scientists serving as chief scientists aboard the OceanXplorer vessel. Collaborative research, producing high-quality data and discovering previously undocumented marine life. Training over 30 ECOPs through floating labs — with more than 150 applicants underscoring growing demand for inclusive deep-sea training. The expedition validated OceanQuest's model of collaborative, capacity-focused ocean science. Looking ahead to the 2025 UN ocean conference OceanQuest will make its international debut at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, spotlighting the deep ocean's role in climate stability, biodiversity, and sustainability. Dr. Visbeck confirmed that the foundation will advocate for greater attention to seamounts and deep-ocean ecosystems in global marine science agendas. With global attention increasingly focused on SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and the ratification of new ocean governance frameworks like BBNJ, Dr. Visbeck believes now is the perfect moment for a deep-ocean foundation like OceanQuest. 'Deep-ocean discovery offers unprecedented opportunities — from understanding climate processes to unlocking innovation in biotechnology,' he said. 'With Saudi support and global partnerships, we're turning exploration into impact for all of humanity.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
American submarine, lost for over a century, discovered 'remarkably intact' off the coast of San Diego
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers have located the wrecks of two long-lost military vehicles on the seafloor a few miles from San Diego: an American submarine that sank during a training accident in 1917, and a U.S. Navy training aircraft that crashed nearby in 1950. The USS F-1 submarine sank in seconds after it was badly damaged in a collision with another U.S. Navy submarine. Nineteen of its crew drowned in the accident, and three were rescued by the other sub. The discovery, made by an expedition to the site earlier this year by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the U.S. Navy, was the first time the sub wreck had been located and surveyed since the sinking. It now lies on the seafloor at a depth of more than 1,300 feet (400 meters). That's too deep for human divers, so the wreck was surveyed by operators in the human-occupied underwater vehicle (HOV) Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, which were based on the WHOI research ship Atlantis. "These two important oceanographic tools work extremely well together," Bruce Strickrott, manager of the Alvin group at WHOI, told Live Science in an email. "The combined strength of the two capabilities has transformed deep sea oceanographic research and exploration, and is becoming a routine part of Alvin scientific missions." Related: 30 incredible sunken wrecks from WWI and WWII Bradley Krueger, an underwater archaeologist for the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), was on board Alvin during some of the dives and outlined the fatal 1917 sinking. "USS F-1 was conducting a 48-hour engineering run and performance test traveling from San Pedro and San Diego, CA, when the accident occurred," Krueger told Live Science in an email. "[Navy submarines] USS F-2 and USS F-3 were alongside performing similar testing when all three vessels entered a fog bank. USS F-3 collided with USS F-1, and following the collision USS F-3 remained on scene to help rescue survivors from the water." Image 1 of 3 The reconstruction shows the submarine's "conning" tower and the damage on the submarine's hull that caused it to sink. Image 2 of 3 The expedition also surveyed the wreck of a U.S. Navy Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, which was being used for training in 1950 when it crashed nearby. Image 3 of 3 The latest dives enabled the U.S. Navy to identify the aircraft and to confirm that no lives were lost in the accident. Stickrott said he had worked out the submarine wreck's rough location from Navy records and that the AUV Sentry was sent out to survey the area. It located the wreck on the first afternoon of searching. The F-1 submarine now lies on its starboard (right) side with its bow (front) to the northwest, and subsequent explorations with the HOV Alvin showed the sub was "remarkably intact" after being underwater for more than 100 years, Stickrott said. The wreck is now a war grave for the 19 crew who died in the 1917 accident. WHOI and the Navy agreed not to make contact with the wreck, "to preserve its condition and be respectful of its legacy," he said. The expedition also surveyed the nearby wreck of a U.S. Navy Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, which crashed in the same area when it was being used as a training aircraft in 1950. Stickrott explained that the bomber wreck had been known to WHOI for several years and had sometimes been the target for engineering and training dives on Alvin. But the wreck's location had been unknown to the U.S. Navy, so the site was surveyed to add information to the Navy's records, he said. RELATED STORIES —WWI German U-boat discovered off US coast 100 years after it sank —Wreck of WWII 'Hit 'Em Harder' submarine, which sank with 79 crew on board, discovered in South China Sea —Drones equipped with lasers uncover secrets of bloody WWII battle The dives enabled the NHHC to establish an official identification of the aircraft and to confirm that the crew on board had escaped alive from the crash, Stickrott said. He added that he had always been curious about the number "13" stenciled on the engine nacelle of the sunken aircraft — an "obvious superstitious element." The number turned out to refer to the training squadron that the aircraft belonged to at the time of the crash, "but I often wonder what the pilot and squadron personnel thought," he said.
CTV News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
WATCH: Divemaster records breathtaking underwater videos of octopus off Vancouver Island
Carl Sorenson has recorded video on more than 600 dives off Vancouver Island. His favourite subject to film is octopus.
The Sun
23-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Chilling moment doomed Titan sub disappears into the bottom of the sea in ominous test dive before implosion tragedy
THIS IS the horrifying moment the doomed Titan submarine was plunged into darkness during an ominous test dive. The sub would later implode in a tragedy that stunned the world - and left its five passengers dead. 7 7 7 7 Brit Hamish Harding, 58, father and son duo Shahzada, 48, and Suleman Dawood, 19, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, would sadly die in the June 2023 disaster. Then OceanGate Expeditions Chief Executive Stockton Rush, 61 also perished on the fateful voyage. Rush had previously taken the sub down to sea off the Bahamas during testing four years earlier. Passengers on this trip have outlined how the sub ran into trouble during in a forthcoming documentary on BBC Two next Tuesday at 9pm. In a terrifying moment, they are said to have heard a noise "like a gunshot", after which the exterior lights went off. The sub then lost full vertical thrust availability when one of its battery banks failed. One passenger claimed the vessel was "within a few percentage points of implosion" during the April 2019 trip. Submersibles expert Karl Stanley told the documentary: "I did not even come close to appreciating the real danger. "I was the one that was like 'hey, capture this moment'. I was happy to be there." Underwater electronics technician Petros Mathioudakis was also on the dive. 'What's that bang?' Chilling moment sound of doomed Titan sub imploding heard from support ship He said: "I was aware that this was extremely risky. And Stockton was very clear. "He said do you have a wife, and I said 'no'. Do you have kids? And I said 'no'. And he said OK, you're in." Describing the terrifying moment, he added: "The first time the carbon fibre made a noise in that hull, it was extremely loud - it was like a gunshot. "Any noise would have been loud – that was loud. "Everyone stops talking for a little bit and 'OK, I think we're OK', you know." Along with the loud noises, the sub's lights went dark - with a video from onboard showing the nerve-shredding conditions. Stanley said: "The supposed goal of the trip was to test it to the exact depth of the Titanic. They got 96% of the way there. "The cracking sounds were continuing, so at some point collectively we came to a decision of 'well, that's good enough." Despite warnings from experts and former OceanGate staff, Titan continued to make dives. How the Titan tragedy unfolded By Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) FIVE men plunged beneath the surface of the North Atlantic in a homemade sub in a bid to explore the Titanic wreckage. Four passengers paid £195,000 each to go on the sub, with the fifth member of the trip being a crew member. But what was supposed to be a short trip spiralled into days of agony as the doomed Titan vanished without a trace on June 18, 2023. The daring mission had been months in the making - and almost didn't happen at the hands of harsh weather conditions in Newfoundland, Canada. In a now chilling Facebook post, passenger Hamish Harding wrote: "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow." It would be his final Facebook post. The following morning, he and four others - led by Stockton Rush - began the 12,5000ft descent towards the bottom of the Atlantic. But as it made its way down into the depths, the vessel lost all contact with its mother ship on the surface, the Polar Prince. It sparked a frantic four-day search for signs of life, with the hunt gripping the entire world. There was hope that by some miracle, the crew was alive and desperately waiting to be saved. But that sparked fears rescue teams faced a race against time as the passengers only had a 96-hour oxygen supply when they set out, which would be quickly dwindling. Then, when audio of banging sounds was detected under the water, it inspired hope that the victims were trapped and signalling to be rescued. It heartbreakingly turned out that the banging noises were likely either ocean noises or from other search ships, the US Navy determined. Countries around the world deployed their resources to aid the search, and within days the Odysseus remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to where the ghostly wreck of the Titanic sits. The plan was for the ROV to hook onto the sub and bring it up 10,000ft, where it would meet another ROV before heading to the surface. But any hopes of a phenomenal rescue were dashed when Odysseus came across a piece of debris from the sub around 1,600ft from the Titanic. The rescue mission tragically turned into a salvage task, and the heartbroken families of those on board were told the devastating news. It was confirmed by the US Coast Guard that the sub had suffered a "catastrophic implosion". Deep-sea explorer Victor Vescovo said: 'I specifically told them that it was simply a matter of time before it failed catastrophically.' Another clip from the day of the tragedy shows Wendy Rush – Stockton Rush's wife – looking at a computer used to receive messages from the Titan when a deep metallic thud rings out. All five people onboard were killed instantly when the vessel collapsed under immense pressure at around 3,300m of depth. 7 7
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
We've never seen footage of a colossal squid until now — and it's a baby
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The elusive colossal squid has finally been caught on camera, an entire century after it was first discovered. A team of scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor filmed a not-so-colossal juvenile measuring 11.8 inches (30 centimeters) long as it swam through the ocean near the South Sandwich Islands at a depth of around 1,968 feet (600 meters). The video, which was captured on March 9 in the South Atlantic Ocean by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) named SuBastian, shows the translucent baby squid gently swimming through the abyss of the deep ocean, with its tiny tentacles dangling behind it. "It's exciting to see the first in situ footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist," Kat Bolstad, a squid researcher at the the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, who was an independent scientific expert consulted to verify the footage, said in a statement. "For 100 years, we have mainly encountered them as prey remains in whale and seabird stomachs and as predators of harvested toothfish." Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) are bigger than even the famous giant squid (Architeuthis dux). They are considered the largest invertebrates on the planet, measuring up to 46 feet (14 m) long — as long as a semitrailer — and weighing as much as 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). They have the largest eyes of any known animal, which can measure up to 11 inches (27 cm) across — about the size of a soccer ball. These bizarre creatures live deep beneath the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. They live deeper and deeper with age, with the youngest and smallest squid being found down to about 1,640 feet (500 m), adolescents living between 1,600 and 6,600 feet (500 to 2,000 m), and fully grown adults living even deeper. This year marks 100 years since the colossal squid was formally identified and named, but in the century since, very few have ever been seen. The species was first discovered after two of its arms were found in the stomach of a sperm whale during the winter of 1924-1925. RELATED STORIES —Elusive 'octopus squid' with world's largest biological lights attacks camera in striking new video —Watch extremely rare footage of a bigfin squid 'walking' on long, spindly arms deep in the South Pacific —'She turns her siphon into a gun': Watch coconut octopus firing stones at fish in world-1st footage The new video is the first-ever live observation of this species in its natural habitat. Dying adult colossal squid have been filmed by fishermen, and the first complete specimen was captured in 2007 by a fishing vessel near Antarctica. Most of what we know about this species and its lifestyle comes from beaks found in sperm whale stomachs. Only 12 complete colossal squid specimens had ever been found as of 2015, and about half of those were juveniles. The scientists on the previous Falkor expedition in January also filmed the first-ever confirmed footage of the glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis), which had also never been observed in its natural habitat before now. "The first sighting of two different squids on back-to-back expeditions is remarkable and shows how little we have seen of the magnificent inhabitants of the Southern Ocean," Jyotika Virmani, Schmidt Ocean Institute's executive director, said in the statement. "These unforgettable moments continue to remind us that the ocean is brimming with mysteries yet to be solved."
