Empowering Scientific Discovery: Enhancing Access to Ocean Exploration Samples

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research has a mission to better understand regions of the deep ocean that have not been fully explored and that are of cultural, scientific, or economic importance; through this work, upwards of 8,000 physical samples have been collected from the deep sea, which are deposited in repositories that take the responsibility to manage and preserve them for long term utility. Repositories make specimens, in situ and on-board photographs, and associated collection meta-data discoverable through publicly facing databases and manage loans and returns of material for study by qualified researchers, in accordance with museum loan policies and permit restrictions. NOAA Ocean Exploration collaborates with a broad spectrum of organizations, including Ocean Exploration Trust via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, and we are committed to facilitating access to the wide array of scientific data and samples collected during the ocean expeditions that we fund. Over the past 11 years, samples have been collected during expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer and E/V Nautilus utilizing remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) down to 6,000 m. Both NOAA Ocean Exploration and Ocean Exploration Trust conduct expeditions focused on undersampled regions of the ocean, which result in the collection of unique samples that have the potential to yield significant scientific discoveries. Samples collected consist of geological samples (rocks, sediments), biological specimens, and water for eDNA analysis. Geological samples are collected in a variety of ways, including with ROV manipulator arms and push cores. Similarly, biological sampling techniques include a variety of specialized tools integrated onto ROVs, including suction samplers, coral snips, manipulator arms, and water samplers. Water samples are typically collected by Niskin bottles mounted on the ROVs or deployed over the side of the ship on CTD rosettes. These samples serve the scientific community in different ways. Rock samples have been used for a wide array of analyses, including thin-section microscopy and petrographic, geochemical, mineralogical, geochronologic, and isotopic analyses to help us understand their formation. Deep-sea sediments can be used for paleoceanographic core-top calibration studies and assessments of recent environmental characteristics (e.g., evaluating anthropogenic impacts of microplastic pollution). Biological samples (including corals and sponges as well as residents of the water column) can be used for species identification (including the characterization and naming of new species) and the elucidation of deep-sea communities. These samples help us gain an understanding of evenness and richness across deep-sea habitats; some of these samples have also been studied for relevance to pharmaceutics. Significant effort, resources, and time have been invested in sample collection, with the goal of maximizing their utility for the advancement of science. The biological samples collected by NOAA Ocean Exploration and Ocean Exploration Trust are housed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology, respectively, while geologic samples are stored at Oregon State University Marine and Geology Repository and the University of Rhode Island Marine Geological Samples Laboratory, respectively. International and domestic researchers and academics are encouraged to utilize these samples and can, in most cases, access them free of cost. Additionally, some repositories offer facilities for visiting researchers to conduct analyses on the samples. We invite the scientific community to utilize these samples, and help realize the potential to improve our understanding of the deep ocean.