Jill McDermott

How little we’ve seen: A visual coverage estimate of the deep seafloor In decades of deep-sea exploration, humans have observed only 0.001% of the deep seafloor, leaving 66% of planet Earth unseen.

Fast-forward 4 years and a ton of research later, and my initial estimate remains the same--we've seen ~0.001% of the deep seafloor, an area approx the same as the size of Rhode Island.

@oceandiscleague.bsky.social published this work in @science.org Advances today: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Frame grab by @kennarubin.bsky.social from the unfortunately titled, but still fascinating, Woods Hole Oceanographic video "Underwater volcano explodes in the Pacific!", showing a small flash of orange glowing lava oozing from the sea bed approximately 10 m in front of the Alvin submersible on 29 April 2025. Original video source: https://youtu.be/FYZm6N0xIyI?si=snMubVEgabTMczOU. Original video courtesy of Andrew Wozniak, University of Delaware, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Funded by the National Science Foundation.

Collage of shipboard images from R/V Atlantis of lava samples of the 29 April 2025 East Pacific Rise eruption that were acquired by the ingenuity and quick thinking of ship and shore based scientists! SOURCE: Collage itself by @kennarubin.bsky.social. Cropped Base images courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic scientist Dan Fornari, who orchestrated the sampling from shore, and courtesy of the at sea expedition Chief Scientists

🧪🌊🌋⚒️ What do you do when a 2.5-km-deep Pacific Ocean volcano erupts (3rd time in 33 yrs) with the Alvin sub in the water? You pull Alvin fast, coat a weight in Crisco, toss it overboard with a wireline acoustic locator beacon, & pull up fresh lava chips the "old fashioned" way. Specimens on the way😍

New hydrothermal vents and coral gardens found in the icy depths of the remote South Sandwich Islands University of Plymouth news: Dr Jenny Gales was part of an international team of scientists who discovered new hydrothermal vents, coral gardens and...

"Discovering these hydrothermal vents was an absolutely magical moment, as they have never been observed by humans before!"
- Dr Jenny Gales
Associate Professor in Hydrography and Ocean Exploration

Learn more about the discoveries:
🔗 www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/new-hyd...

New copepod species highlights fragile biodiversity in Bermuda's caves Bermuda's Walsingham cave system harbors a wide diversity of cave-dwelling animals not found anywhere else in the world. Now, one more joins their ranks as researchers at the University of Cambridge, ...

We made it to the news!

phys.org/news/2025-05...

Oceans | Deep-Sea | Lehigh | Herrera | McDermott | United States Consortium of researchers at Lehigh University that study the ocean environment and the life within it. We employ a combination of fieldwork, laboratory, and computational approaches. McDermott Lab of...

My department at Lehigh University is hiring a Laboratory Facilities Technician. Beautiful research spaces, a great community, and lots of interesting science to do! For more info: tinyurl.com/2vm3h5p9 www.lehighoceans.org ees.cas.lehigh.edu #GeoJobs #OceanJobs #SciJobs