This week marks the 10th Annual World Oceans Day, a global confluence of ocean-awareness events intended to bring our oceans the level of public attention they deserve. As we both have had the opportunity to explore a fair amount of our globe's seas, on this occasion we'd like to share our excitement and our vision for the future. Ray Dalio (@raydalio) is the founder of Bridgewater Associates and the OceanX initiative. Marc Benioff (@benioff) is CEO and chair of Salesforce, as well as founder of the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara. To us, the ocean is humanity's most important and most under-examined treasure.
AP video coverage will include exploring the depths of up to 300 meters off the Seychelles in two-person submarines, the search for submerged mountain ranges and previously undiscovered marine life, a behind-the-scenes look at life on board, interviews with researchers and aerial footage of the mission. The seven-week expedition is expected to run until April 19.
When might that come in handy, besides to generally explore the relative unknown? The oil and gas industries wouldn't mind knowing more about what lurks below and the military has already sought ways to position sensors on the bottom of the ocean. Stilwell says technology such as what he and his team are developing could also make underwater searches, like the unsuccessful nearly three-year effort to find missing Malaysian Airline flight MH370, more affordable and faster.
Scores of spectacular and rare under sea species have been found by expeditions this year to some of the deepest trenches in the Pacific Ocean. They include strange purple orbs, "mud monsters" and a bizarre swimming sea cucumber reminiscent of a flying Mary Poppins. Another voyage found around 500 new undersea methane vents off the US west coast. This doubles the number of known seeps, bubbling up a powerful greenhouse gas. The gas vents were found by an expedition mounted by Dr Robert Ballard, the man who first located the wreck of the Titanic.