ScienceNews

During the 2025 Deep-sea Habitats of the Cook Islands expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus the team surveyed various seascapes to better understand seabed environments, and natural and mineral resources in the region. In this image, polymetallic nodules rest on sediment accumulated in a depression between rounded pillows and extended lobate lava flows, which are evidence of ancient volcanoes.

NOAA Scientists and Partners to Map Deep Waters and Seabed in the Cook Islands

Seastar on a polymetallic nodule.

New Scientific Review Assesses Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining
MV Anuanua Moana.

American Ocean Minerals Announces Research Vessel Deployment to Advance Deep-Sea Research
Image of geological samples from the seafloor that were collected via box core on April 14, 2026, in US waters off American Samoa.

NOAA Releases First Images of Nodules from Waters Near American Samoa

TMC Subsidiaries Submit Massive Deep-Sea Dataset to Public Database
Twenty-four new species of amphipod have been identified. (Image credit: NOC)

Twenty-Four New Deep-Sea Species Discovered in Major Pacific Research
The NOAA Ship Ranier conducts a seabed mapping exercise in the Pacific in 2022.

NOAA Ship to Map Potential Critical Mineral Deposits in US Waters of Pacific Ocean

BOEM’s Marine Minerals Information System Data Services Are Relocating

Japanese Deep-Sea Mining Expedition Returns with Rare Earth Mud

New Abyssal Fishing Worm Discovered

NOAA to Map Critical Mineral Deposits in Deep Waters Off American Samoa
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