“Mission to the Deep” celebrates the 20th anniversary of the aquarium’s sister research institute – also known as MBARI – a world leader in exploring and studying the deep sea. The exhibit highlights new tools and technologies from MBARI that are dramatically changing the way we view and monitor the oceans. These tools have helped MBARI researchers uncover new habitats and life forms we never imagined existed. They also allow MBARI researchers to conduct experiments that measure the impact of human activities on the oceans, from water pollution to global climate change.

“Mission to the Deep” draws visitors into this exciting world by combining stunning high-definition video footage with interactive computer animations of undersea robots and other high-tech tools that help the MBARI team explore the largest and most mysterious habitat on Earth.

Through large, multi-screen presentations and some interactive displays, the new permanent exhibit invites visitors to join MBARI researchers on three different missions – photograph deep-sea animals, map vast undersea mountains and monitor environmental changes on the seafloor.

“Visitors are keenly curious about the deep sea,” said Senior Exhibit Developer Ava Ferguson. “They love seeing cool animals in our ‘Mysteries of the Deep’ auditorium program, but they usually don’t get to learn about the tools that allow MBARI researches to go where few people have gone before.”

The three simulated missions are designed like video games, where visitors race against a clock to perform three different tasks using a computerized touch screen. In one mission, visitors deploy a remote-controlled sub into the mysterious depths of the midwater – the largest habitat on Earth – to photograph bizarre deep-sea creatures, such as a vampire squid, a giant deep-sea jelly and a spookfish.

In the second mission, visitors launch self-guided robots to explore and map seamounts – undersea mountains that lie hundreds of fathoms below the ocean’s surface, yet are covered with unique marine life. The third mission involves operating a camera attached to a virtual deep seafloor observatory to monitor the surprisingly rich and varied marine life around a sunken whale carcass.

“These missions mimic components of actual deep-sea research,” Ferguson said. “Better yet, they give visitors a chance to learn about the high-tech tools MBARI researchers use.”

MBARI and aquarium staff worked closely over the past year to make “Mission to the Deep” both exciting and informative. MBARI researchers and engineers reviewed facts and shared images of strange animals, underwater volcanoes, deep-sea robots and deep-sea instruments. Video technicians prepared hours of beautiful high-definition footage. Even the ships’ crews and the pilots of MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) got involved, sharing the experience of what it’s like to be onboard a deep-sea research vessel during an ROV dive.

In showing how MBARI researchers do their work, “Mission to the Deep” is a perfect companion to the aquarium's “Mysteries of the Deep” auditorium program, which presents what MBARI researchers are studying on a daily basis: the fantastic animals and other-worldly environments of the deep sea. Some programs even include live video coverage of ROV expeditions. “Mission to the Deep” is just the thing for anyone who has ever wondered what it’s like to pilot a robotic submarine, monitor an undersea observatory or sit in the control room of a research vessel during an ROV dive. -- www.mbayaq.org