In the Southeast Pacific, off the coast of Chile, underwater mountains create a breathtaking deepsea landscape where coldwater corals, intricate glass sponges, anemones, and a host of creatures that captivate the imagination are thriving. Nearly half of the animals living here exist nowhere else on Earth. Seamounts are oases for biodiversity; for the last month, an international team of scientists explored this understudied region in our global ocean. Data and imagery collected on the #SEPacificSeamounts expedition will help advance Chile’s effort to establish a highseas marine protected area along the Nazca and Salas y Gómez Ridges.

FKt240108 Seamounts of the Southeast Pacific expedition