A remotely-operated-vehicle explores the sea floor in dim light.

Exploration

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a deep sea jellyfish

Deep Sea Overview

Ever want to explore the deep sea? This overview dives into everything to know about this under-explored world.

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Featured Content

a squid in blue water

Quest for the Giant Squid

One of ten robots that examined an area of 800 cubic kilometers in northern Monterey Bay, over the course of 24 days, in 2006.

Teams of Robots Can Help Us Build 3D Maps of the Ocean

A submersible explores the deep reefs off of Curacao in the Caribbean.

Summer in a Sub: DROP Down to Discovery

Dive through the zones of the ocean to the deep ocean bottom where many strange species live, and there are many yet to be discovered. Explore them in the Deep Ocean Exploration section.

What We DON'T Know About the Deep Sea

A variety of plankton images from the Gulf Stream

STREAMCODE – Planktonic Diversity of the Gulf Stream

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.

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Exploration Articles

Giant Pacific Manta Ray, Roca Partida Sea Mount, Revillagigedos Islands, Mexico

Tagging and Tracking Animals Underwater

A white crabeater seal resting on an iceberg.

Life in the Field

The sun sets over Sanur in Bali, Indonesia during low tide.

Live from the Field: Bali, Indonesia

The 2012 Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center dive class stand in a group together

Scuba Diving Course a Success for IBRC Students

Scripps Institution of Oceanography's FLoating Instrument Platform, or FLIP, conducts sea trials off San Diego in May 2009.

Happy 50th Birthday, FLIP – a Mobile Research Island

Dive through the zones of the ocean to the deep ocean bottom where many strange species live, and there are many yet to be discovered. Explore them in the Deep Ocean Exploration section.

What We DON'T Know About the Deep Sea

The Curasub departs for a deep sea dive, up to 1,000 feet off the island of Curaçao, where this sub is located.

A Voyage of Discovery to Inner Space

The Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure was developed to help scientists study coral reef diversity and have now been adopted broadly to study diversity around the world.

Uncovering Biodiversity… with ARMS and a Submarine Claw

These zooplankton collected on a research cruise include a jellyfish, a lanternfish, a snipe eel, two large orange shrimp, a fuzzy pyrosome (which is bioluminescent), and several smaller animals.

One Fish, Two Fish: Estimating Undiscovered Species

Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II, and sunk off the coast of North Carolina.

Underwater WWII Wrecks – Pollution or Cultural Heritage?

The elusive giant squid

Reflections on the Successful Search for the Giant Squid

A humpback whale breaching in Antarctic waters.

Humpback Whales in Antarctica: What Are the Whales Doing?

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NOAA