INTRODUCTION
By Nicole A. Raineault, Genene Fisher, and Carlie Wiener
This eleventh installment of the annual ocean exploration
supplement to Oceanography, the official magazine of
The Oceanography Society, highlights the work of three
vessels that contribute to exploring the world ocean:
the Ocean Exploration Trust’s (OET's) E/V Nautilus, NOAA
Ship Okeanos Explorer, and Schmidt Ocean Institute’s
(SOI's) R/V Falkor.
Although the global COVID-19 pandemic impacted the
2020 programs, it did not prevent the execution of signif-
icant ocean exploration work, both at sea and on shore.
R/V Falkor and E/V Nautilus took to the seas for modified
programs. NOAA paused at-sea operations for Okeanos
Explorer, with the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and
Research (OER) instead focusing on development of
universal exploration products and enhancement of its
virtual engagement efforts. The pages that follow contain
summaries of the 2020 expeditions, including initial results;
highlights of new programs and initiatives, many of which
were catalyzed by the pandemic; and information on future
exploration plans.
The first section highlights OET and E/V Nautilus pro-
grams. The pandemic delayed the start of the season, as
the shipyard work to replace the engine was slowed. New
mobile control vans and an integrated studio van were also
installed and tested before the season got underway in
August. The shipboard team size was limited, which meant
many dives and entire expeditions were led from shore.
OET conducted cabled observatory work in partnership
with Ocean Networks Canada and the University of Victoria
(pages 30–31). Olympic Coast, Greater Farallones, Monterey
Bay, and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries and
sites within the proposed Chumash Heritage National
Marine Sanctuary were mapped and characterized
with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs; pages 32–37).
Expeditions focusing on the US blue economy featured
ROV dives along the California Borderland and the Cascadia
margin, supporting research into the biopharmaceutical/
biotechnological possibilities of the deep sea and the
broader importance of these areas (pages 32–33 and
38–39). Finally, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative
Institute (OECI) hired a director, Adam Soule, who started
work at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School
of Oceanography in January. The institutions involved in
this venture have formalized working groups organized
to catalyze collaborations in key areas such as science and
technology, data management and usability, telepresence
technologies, and education and branding. Technologies
that will improve our ability to explore the ocean were
modified, acquired, or tested and will feature in the Nautilus
2021 field season and beyond (pages 40–43).
The second section focuses on the 2020 activities of the
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. It opens
with an overview of the US strategy for ocean exploration
that led to OER’s creation (page 46–47) and then intro-
duces the new White House National Strategy for Mapping,
Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive
Economic Zone (NOMEC, 2020) and describes how OER’s
mission fits within its blueprint (pages 46–47). The section
discusses an underlying objective of the National Ocean
Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization (NOMEC)
Council to expand the US blue economy (pages 48–50),
provides examples of OER’s grant-supported projects that
are tied to the blue economy in the areas of bioprospect-
ing (page 49) and deep-sea methane seeps (page 49), and
describes development plans for a long-duration sensor
platform (page 50). OER then summarizes work that sup-
ports the NOMEC blueprint for exploration and characteri-
zation of the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and provides
examples of the deep-sea products, exploration models,
and strategies (pages 51–52) that can be utilized by the