Yet, we know very little about the Ocean. We know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the floor of the ocean. While the oceans cover most of the Earth, only five percent of the ocean and sea floor has been explored. However, a new collaborative program by the National Geographic Society, NOAA, and the Goldman Fund, is about to change all of this.
Orcas breach off the shores of Santa Rosa Island.
In Congress there is a lot of talk about exploring space as the final frontier. But there is another world out there to be explored, and instead of going up, we must go down. Down to the depths of the vast oceans, to discover the wonders of the sea where we might find new resources, cures for diseases, and answers to scientific questions. As Dr. Earle states, the Sustainable Seas Expedition will explore our National Marine Sanctuaries in the same spirit that Lewis and Clark explored our Nation over two centuries ago. Working in close collaboration with marine sanctuary managers and other scientists, the Sustainable Seas Expeditions expedition team will use innovative submersible technology to undertake the first sustained exploration of sanctuary sites to depths of 2,000 feet to photodocument the natural history of each sanctuary's plants and animals and to establish permanent monitoring field stations within the sanctuary system.