Okeanos-UAc/OceanX joint scientific expedition in the Azores

Scientists from Okeanos,the marine research center of the University of the Azores, will join OceanX’s new OceanXplorer research vessel to study the marine life of the Azorean deep-sea and open ocean ecosystems.

Scientists Jorge Fontes and Pedro Afonso will join the first leg - from 2nd to the 11th of June - to lead investigations on the behavior of top predatory sharks of the deep sea. They will take advantage of the state-of-the-art submersibles and other high-tech tools to dive into innovative biologging shark science and discover how these creatures explore the twilight zone. A number of water column environmental sensing and collection of seabed samples and deep-sea animals will also contribute to multiple ongoing research projects.

On the second leg - from 11th to the 20th of June - scientists Rui Prieto and Irma Cascão, will join the expedition to lead a study that will try to shed light on the mysterious story of the sperm whales their deep-sea prey. Rui and Irma will be attempting to deploy new whale behavior sensors on the sperm whales in order to understand their behavior and characterize their 3-dimensional habitat in the Azorean open ocean.

Designed and built to be the most advanced combined marine research and media vessel in existence, OceanXplorer is both a floating, integrated marine research platform and a Hollywood-caliber media production studio. The centerpiece of OceanX’s mission to explore the ocean and bring it back to the world,OceanXplorer’sadvanced,media-optimized scientific exploration vehicles, chemical, biological, and geophysical sampling tools, centralized data integration system and onboard media center make it possible to explore and document parts of the ocean humans have never before experienced.