Open data accelerates understanding of the Ocean

In March 2020, an international team of scientists on the Research Vessel Falkor began exploring deep-sea corals and canyons off the coast of Australia, and then everything changed. While the world began locking down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schmidt Ocean Institute staff?and the ship’s crew adapted to continue exploring Australian waters?with science teams working remotely from shore.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, teams worked on R/V Falkor to characterize deep-sea areas off the coast of Australia. The results of their efforts were extraordinary. During nine expeditions, scientists discovered a massive detached coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef measuring more than 500 meters high, taller than the Empire State Building, the Sydney Tower, and the Petronas Twin Towers. It was the first reef discovered in the region in over 120 years. Researchers encountered the longest recorded sea creature — a 45m siphonophore. They found up to 30 new species, including five undescribed species of black coral and sponges, explored deep-sea coral gardens and graveyards in Bremer Canyon Marine Park, and recorded Australia’s first observation of a rare scorpionfish.

“My time in Australia on Falkor taught me how to be a really good field scientist.” - Dr. Jeremy Horowitz

Back Ashore

In May of 2024, three researchers who sailed on Falkor in Australia gathered for an online discussion of their work since those Australian expeditions and how their time on Falkor continues to generate remarkable results. You can view their conversation here or read on for highlights.

Mountains of data spark interest in further exploration of Australian waters

Schmidt Ocean Institute is a philanthropic organization dedicated to boldly exploring our unknown Ocean. We provide interdisciplinary science teams worldwide with a world-class research vessel for free. In exchange, we ask that these experts make their data and research findings open access to catalyze the discoveries needed to understand our Ocean, sustain life, and ensure the health of our planet.

“I’m working on Falkor data every day. There are mountains of it,” said Dr. Robin Beaman of James Cook University.

Beaman was the principal investigator for Northern Depths of the Great Barrier Reef, Pinging in the New Year, and Visioning the Coral Sea Marine Park expeditions; he was the co-principal investigator for Ice Age Geology of the Great Barrier Reef.

Beamen shared that their research results have spawned great interest, and several organizations, including Parks Australia, have stepped forward to conduct more targeted research based on the data from R/V Falkor’s time in the region. Currently, Beamen is building high-resolution 3D models of the Queensland Plateau using data collected in 2020.

Ocean data transforms our understanding of life in the deep

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Jeremy Horowitz sailed on two expeditions in Australia as a PhD student. He described his excitement seeing the deep-sea corals he was studying in their natural environment for the first time. Horowitz credits his collaboration with the world’s leading coral experts during his time in Australia with his current career trajectory; the experience also awarded him the first opportunity to scientifically describe a newly discovered species.

The data produced from the Falkor expeditions changed Horowitz’s and his colleagues’ understanding of species relationships. “The world experts on black corals — all five of us — we now have a new understanding of how species are related, and that’s because we’re able to collect and sequence a whole bunch of specimens,” he said.

Horowitz added, “My time in Australia on Falkor taught me how to be a really good field scientist.”

Today, Horowitz is in the middle of conducting a formal taxonomic review of the black coral order. There are currently seven families of black corals, and he says there will be eight families in about a month when a paper describing a new family of black coral will be published.

ROV footage reveals that protecting fragile marine ecosystems works

Dr. Nerida Wilson is an invertebrate marine molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. She served as chief scientist for Illuminating Biodiversity of the Ningaloo Canyons and participated in the Australian Mesophotic Coral Examination expeditions.

For Wilson, who describes herself as a slug person, Ashmore Reef Marine Park was a thrilling location where she could see the diversity of sea slugs in the mesophotic zone, an area in the water column between shallow waters and the deep Ocean. Mesophotic coral ecosystems may have significant ecological importance, including the potential to reseed shallow-water corals under environmental stress. Wilson and her peers are still working on sequencing the species collected in the marine park. Researchers on the Ashmore Reef expedition showed the mesophotic zone at Ashmore to be diverse, vibrant, and healthy with no evidence of coral damage, providing park managers with data that shows the protected area is preserving this remarkable ecosystem.

One Ocean, seven continents

The success of this work in Australia laid the groundwork for bringing our research vessel to a new area each year, offering exploration technologies to the international scientific community and revealing our unknown Ocean to the world. Since January 2024, international scientists have been working off the coast of South America on board the R/V Falkor (too). (In 2022, Schmidt Ocean Institute donated Falkor to the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.) These researchers have focused on understudied southeast Pacific seamounts along the Salas y Gómez, Nazca, and Juan Fernandez Ridges. Scientists observed pristine ecosystems harboring abundant life via our remotely operated vehicle SuBastian’s cameras. They have identified more than 160 species suspected to be new to science and revealed essential areas in the high seas that warrant protection.

We are committed to working in the ocean basins around all seven continents, with a strategic focus on topics that provide the underpinning knowledge that will lead to additional decades of scientific discovery and allow the world to better interact, manage, and care for our planet’s life support system. In the coming years, seeing all we can learn about our global Ocean through the open exchange of knowledge and data will be thrilling. You can view past expeditions and explore with us anytime via our Divestream!