NGEN Submarine Expedition '21

The first week of the expedition has come to an end! Over the next few days some members of the first group will be departing for home, while the next batch flies in!
The Explorers Club

Continuing education and skillset is vital when it comes to conservation. Some of the team is getting their Roatan Marine Park Coral Restoration Adventurer certification with Sun Divers Roatan and going to assist in reef restoration projects during the expedition.

This morning, we were able to sit down with the students in the ROV class with the Advanced Studies and Leadership Program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
ASLP is a summer camp for usually 200 highly motivated, gifted kids from all 11 school districts on Cape Cod. It's administered by the . The ROV class usually has between 20 to 24 kids for 4 mornings in each session.
The Explorers Club

Continuing to dive into our research, last night we successfully deployed the laser scanner.
The laser uses titanium dope sapphire 800nm wave lengths to detect the reflection of the glossy polymer index of plastics, meaning a blue light is used to detect microplastics in the water column, in and around the reef.
The Explorers Club
Sun Divers Roatan

Only 5% of our oceans have been seen by the human eye, whether diving or through the lens, and the more we explore the unknown, the more we discover our footprint has already made an impact. Our trash is preceeding us.
We know more about space than our oceans. This is mainly due to the difficulties of working under such extreme pressures and opacity of water. "We can only see, where we shine the light." As we develop the technologies capable of reaching the ocean depths, it is like we are exploring an alien world. So much life, right below the waves.
The Explorers Club

More than 80% of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. Most the seafloor maps we have, are taken at a resolution of one mile, that's the equivalent to 16 football fields, as a single data point, so think about how much information we miss.
Expedition team members Breezy Grenier and Stephen Daire before their dive to the ocean depths.
The Explorers Club

Today we dove right in! A few members are getting their open water dive certifications and had their first dive today, while others on the team had their first dive to test out equipment and prepare for the arrival of the blue laser we will use for reflectromotry, which has been delayed yet another day being shipping from mainland, due to inclement weather.
We will update you on the exciting observations from the first submersible dive, (including a six gill shark sighting!!!!) soon!
The Explorers Club
Sun Divers Roatan

Today we begin our submersible dives!
Our engineer, Elon Gordon and expedition film maker, Greg Taylor, are first to dive to the depths below.
Our sub mission is to collect water samples at depth and survey the extent of plastics and their impacts on the local reef systems. We will be testing for microplastic abundance and related toxins.
The Explorers Club - West End, Roatan, Honduras