Their cars, roads, commerce, radio stations, and many other things all reflect American influence. They may become our 51st. I know that Purto Rican trench is a place where the Caribbean tectonic plates meet with the North and South American tectonic plates. Will this effect the weather or waves during your trip. The Islands formed as a result of plate movement may have some minor influence.
Temperature directly affects the speed of sound in water.
We need to know the variations in the speed of sound in water in order to adjust our sonar to accurately map the bottom. Unfortunately, I did not have time to talk to anyone regarding statehood issues. There is little data on the life at the bottom of trenches because of the gerat depth and the difficulity of building equipment to get there. We have no Navy requirement to study organisms on the bottom of the trench. I suggest you look up marine benthonic organisms in your library to see what organisms are found in the trenches.