CRUISES

The 2024 Nova Canton Trough Expedition is part of the Inkfish Open Ocean Program and took place on the research vessel Dagon. The expedition was split into four legs that took place between the February and May 2024 operating out of Apia (Samoa) and Pago Pago (American Samoa), with operations undertaken both in international waters west of the Line Islands and within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Kiribati. 

The aim of the expedition was to map the entire trough, document species from ~3000 m to 8000 m, explore geological features of interest, and complete a series of longer-term oceanographic moorings within the Samoan passage. The principal sampling methods were scientific landers that free-fall to the seabed carrying a suite of cameras and environmental sensors. The submersible Bakunawa was used to undertake scientific observation of the biodiversity and geodiversity of the seafloor.

The expedition was the largest and most comprehensive research expedition ever undertaken at these depths in the region. 

Summary 

81 days at sea 

194,743 km2 of seafloor mapped (60.2% new)

119 landers deployed (over 1400 hours of video footage)

4 long-term lander deployments

647,434 meters of data collected on depth, temperature and salinity 

17 submersible dives  (over 64 hours of video footage)

438 eDNA samples 

115 bottom water samples 

140 + Identified species 

Expedition Team 

Chief Scientists - Alan Jamieson and Heather Stewart

Expedition Scientists - Jess Kolbusz, Javier Montenegro, Denise Swanborn, Meg Cundy, Mel Stott, Jenny Wainwright, Yakup Niyazi, Elin Thomas and Hayley Sims.