Agencies meet to discuss exploration of deep-water areas off U.S. West Coast

Core players in “Expanding Pacific Research and Exploration of Submerged Systems” (EXPRESS) held a planning workshop at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, November 29–30. EXPRESS is an interagency effort to study deep-water areas off California, Oregon, and Washington. NOAA, USGS, and BOEM initiated the project, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has joined the effort. Information they collect will guide decisions about managing fisheries and offshore energy and mineral resources, and inform offshore earthquake, landslide, tsunami, and nautical hazard assessment. Participants discussed objectives, refined priorities for future work, and reviewed accomplishments to date. These accomplishments include a month-long cruise that surveyed deep-water habitats off Oregon and California, mapping off central California for proposed offshore wind-energy development, and mapping off the Pacific Northwest to document seafloor movement associated with earthquakes and submarine landslides.

Workshop participants in the lobby of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, November 29th, 2019.
​​​​​​​Photo by Rex Sanders, USGS