Sent 3 July 2020. Part of Little Blue Letter.

“There's probably more history now preserved underwater than in all the museums of the world combined."
~ Dr. Robert Ballard
Ocean update
One-fifth of the seafloor has now been mapped! 

To celebrate World Hydrography Day, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project announced that 19% of the world’s seafloor has now been mapped to modern standards. Seabed 2030 is an ambitious initiative to map 100% of the ocean floor by 2030 - very important for exploration and scientific advancement. This is an impressive feat as in 2017 only 6% of the seabed was mapped!

Image of an island chain and trench system reaching over 4000 meters deep (NOAA Ocean Explorer)

Gif of the week
Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vent
#OceanOptimism
Astronaut Kathy Sullivan puts female ocean explorers in the spotlight as she becomes the first woman to reach Challenger Deep, the deepest depth in the ocean.
Finding the Deep - Curator’s Story
  • I’ve known I wanted to be a deep sea scientist since I was 18-years-old. The quote for this week’s newsletter is by Dr. Robert Ballard, whose TED Talk on the importance of ocean exploration inspired me to become a marine scientist.
  • I was lucky enough to get to meet and sail with Dr. Ballard on the Exploration Vessel the E/V Nautilus and sat next to him while we explored the Eastern Pacific with the remotely operated vehicle, Hercules. 

  • ​The deep sea is waiting to be discovered, and while onboard we found and sampled what is likely a new species of velutinid snail!

A new species? (Ocean Exploration Trust)

  • For any aspiring ocean explorers out there, my advice is to follow your passion with perseverance and determination. I’m incredibly lucky to get to discover more about the deep sea every week, and I hope more students and researchers will be able to as well! 
From the editor
The annual conference of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (IMarEST) will this year be held as a flexible two-week virtual event (and the programme looks absolutely fantastic!).

We are living in the golden age of webinars, so it can be difficult to keep track. Here is a collaborative online listing almost 150 ocean webinars that you can watch at your leisure. Feel free to add an event using this form.

Little Blue Letter was curated this week by Kelsey Archer Barnhill. Kelsey is a PhD student at University of Edinburgh’s Changing Oceans Research Group. Kelsey researches climate change impacts on deep sea corals.
Editing etc. by Glen Wright. Glen is a researcher studying marine governance, the high seas, and ocean energy. He is a drinker of tea, lover of the sea, and an Oxford comma user. 
Glen recently published Academia Obscura: The Hidden Silly Side of Higher Education.
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