A Decade-Long Experiment Is Unlocking the Mysteries of the Ocean's 'Deep Reefs'

A Decade-Long Experiment Is Unlocking the Mysteries of the Ocean's'Deep Reefs' Scientists left structures up to 100 meters under the surface. Here's what they found when they retrieved them 10 years later. On a bright, sunny day last May, I stood on a boat surrounded by the turquoise waters of the island nation of Palau . I was there in the western Pacific watching scuba divers as they prepared to bring up evidence of a mysterious aquatic world. Palau is famous for its spectacular and rich coral reefs . But these divers were planning to descend past those sun-lit marine communities and down into a lesser-known twilight zone known as the "mesophotic coral ecosystem." Divers prepare to retrieve research structures from down in the "deep reefs."