Deep Sea Exploration - 360 | Into Water

I have always been fascinated by the search for life. Aliens from outer space come to mind, but I'm inspired by animals in another final frontier: the ocean's midwater, one of the least explored places on Earth, full of creatures that defy imagination.

I'm Dr. Kakani Kaa, I'm a bioengineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and a National Geographic Explorer. My work focuses on developing technologies to access the deep dark ocean, bringing to light organisms we know almost nothing about. At Umari, we are a world leader in ocean research, connecting discovery with innovation, science with engineering, and ultimately an alien world with our own.

We're about to embark on a weeklong expedition to the Monterey submarine canyon, which reaches depths of nearly 4,000 m. Located off the coast of central California, Monterey Bay is home to one of the most diverse ocean ecosystems on the planet. It's also known as the Serengeti of the sea.

Accessing this difficult-to-study ecosystem requires state-of-the-art tools and a highly specialized crew of engineers and technicians. Umari operates two research vessels: the Western Flyer for longer multi-day expeditions and the Rachel Carson, used mainly for one-day trips out to sea. Each vessel has a dedicated remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, on board and is outfitted with specialized systems that enable expeditions throughout the world's oceans.

We'll be deploying two ROVs on this trip, collecting footage and samples of a wide variety of animals, some of which are brand new to science. Doc Ricketts is a 5 1/2 ton robot that can dive to depths of 4,000 m and has conducted more than 12,200 research dives. We use high-resolution cameras to find, approach, and document all kinds of sea life. What we see through these ROVs often reminds me of flying through space.

Life in the midwater, this region between the sea surface and the ocean bottom, is home to captivating creatures like speedy, translucent worms, jellyfish longer than a blue whale, and one of my favorites: the giant larvacean, which makes its house out of mucus. These are organisms with astounding adaptations to life in an extreme environment.

Now, this is a tusk worm. This animal is a worm called Tomopteris. These animals are incredibly fast and maneuverable swimmers capable of movements a fish could never achieve.

This is Galatulus, also known as the cockatoo squid. It has a transparent body and photophores, or light organs, under its eyes. We often encounter this species hanging horizontally in the water column with its arms above its head. Here we are delicately capturing a squid through a suction sampler.

In all, Doc Ricketts can collect nearly 30 animals in one dive, which we bring up to our laboratory for further study. In the lab, we use a variety of techniques to study all aspects of our collected specimens. Their complexity, drawn from hundreds of millions of years of evolution, can inspire new ideas and innovations, from propulsion to medicine, filtration to optics. There's a lot we can learn from these animals; we're only just beginning to scratch the surface. There's a universe of discovery waiting for us down there.