Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is playing an important role in an expedition happening in the Pacific Ocean
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Ocean Exploration Trust's Exploration Vessel Nautilus and team are headed to Wake Atoll, one of the most isolated land masses on Earth and the site of a key battle in World War II shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration through the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the 31-day expedition has a wide list of goals, including mapping the seafloor, exploring abyssal plains, surveying seamount habitats, and a few days of archaeological exploration within which the primary search will be to locate Hayate, the first Japanese warship sunk in World War II.
Two members of the expedition team are stationed at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
– Phil Hartmeyer - Lead Archaeologist on the mission (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
– Andrea Yoxsimer - Co-Lead Archaeologist with a background studying Amakasu Maru No.1, an Imperial Japanese vessel that sank off the coast of Wake Island (Thunder Bay National Marine
Sanctuary Maritime Archaeologist)
Joined by Japanese archaeologists participating remotely and Kelley Suhre and Frank Cantelas (NOAA Ocean Exploration), Hartmeyer and Yoxsimer will be leading archaeological interpretation and analysis as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) explore areas south of Wake Island where Hayate is expected to have sunk. They will participate in the live stream commentary from a pop-up Exploration Command Center (ECC) inside the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena, Michigan, the visitor center and headquarters for Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Their expertise in maritime archaeology will help the expedition team with a possible heritage site confirmation, as well as help the viewers understand what they are seeing during the livestream and the impact of deep-sea exploration.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary was designated in 2000 to protect a nationally significant collection of more than 100 historic shipwrecks within 4,300 square miles of Lake Huron off the Michigan coast.
How to Tune In & Watch Live:
The entire expedition is live-streamed 24/7 with rotating commentators and a constant look at the latest operations onboard E/V Nautilus, even while en route to Wake Island! The ECC at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center is not open to the public, but the livestream link below gives access and amazing views and information to viewers no matter where they are. Viewers are also able to ask questions in real-time.
The primary mission dates are from Sept. 1 through Sept. 10 and people can watch the livestream anytime at NautilusLive.org
he expedition spans 31 days, beginning its journey in Guam and concluding in Hawaiʻi. It targets one of the most remote and scarcely surveyed marine environments under U.S. jurisdiction, a massive region encompassing over 407,000 square kilometers of mostly unmapped seafloor.
The Battle of Wake maritime heritage exploration dives are made possible by the expertise, support, and collaboration of many partners, including Ocean Exploration Trust, NOAA Ocean Exploration, Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce, University of Rhode Island, National Museum of Natural History, Tokai University, and Kyoto University.
Core Objectives
– Conducting deep ROV dives to add to the understanding of deep-sea habitats, especially abyssal plain habitats and unexplored seamounts which have rarely been seen in the broader Pacific.
– Acquire high-resolution seafloor mapping data in areas with no or low-quality data; currently, only 28% of the ocean is mapped in high-resolution.
– Surveying historic World War II maritime heritage sites associated with the Battle of Wake.