Our knowledge and understanding of once unexplored parts of the ocean are expanding through developing technologies and methods of exploration. In 2015, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted the Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean Needs (CAPSTONE). Through the three-year period of this campaign, the NOAA was able to map 597,230 km2 of the Pacific seafloor. This included 323 seamounts, 187 ROV dives totaling 189 h of ROV benthic imaging time, and documented about 347,000 individual organisms (Kennedy 2019). 

Something fascinating is that the NOAA found that fewer than 20% of the species were able to be identified from the taxonomic groups seen by the ROV (Kennedy 2019). This goes to show that even though we have all of these developing technologies and methods, we still have much to learn and discover.

Through a partnership in 2017, the Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of Oceans (GEBCO) launched Seabed 2030, a global project to produce a definitive, high-resolution bathymetric map of the entire world ocean by 2030 (NOAA 2018). Operating within the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) GEBCO framework, Seabed 2030 will bring collected depth data together, finding and highlighting the unmapped gaps, and coordinating efforts by working with the established ocean mapping community (NOAA 2018).

Submarines were designed to allow people to migrate further into the ocean without being impacted by cold temperatures or high pressures. Cornelis Drebbel designed the first submarine in 1623. Under a grant from Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Fulton designed the Nautilus submarine in 1800 which had revolutionary features that would change the submarine game. The hull was made of copper sheets over iron ribs, and the ballast tanks were the craft's most revolutionary feature. One of the first nuclear-powered submarines, the U.S.S. Nautilus was launched in 1954. 

On the other hand, diving devices were also being made, to help divers breathe underwater in order for them to last below the surface longer. In 1865, Frenchmen Benoit Rouquarol and Auguste Denayrouse patented an underwater breathing system. Jacques-Yves Cousteau invented a car regulator in 1942 that only supplied compressed air to the diver as he inhaled. The regulator revolutionized swimming by allowing divers to regulate their breathing while holding huge oxygen tanks, allowing them to extend their dive time. People could now fly to the deep dark waters of the sea to discover secrets buried within, entering a new age of underwater discovery (Vo, 2016). 

Aquariums around the world are attempting to exhibit newly discovered deep-sea species in order to show the public what truly lies in the ocean depths. The only people who have been able to see the unique species that were once unheard of are the scientists, researchers, and explorers who discovered them and have access to the technology that allows them to do so. 

California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium is planning to spend $15 million through the course of the next two years in order to put on a large-scale display exhibiting deep-sea life--the first in the world (Roth 2020). Not only will this display bring knowledge to the public of these deep-sea creatures, but it will also raise awareness on how human actions such as fishing and seabed mining can affect the ecosystems these species dwell in (Roth 2020). Some of these deep-sea creatures come from what is known as the midnight zone. The ocean's midnight zone is a region between one and four kilometers deep, where no sunlight at all penetrates the frigid water. With no light, there is no growth of plants or phytoplankton - all animals are thus predators or scavengers (Bowen 2018).