A deep-sea expedition to the Lost City hydrothermal field begins in September 2018. The Lost City is a beautiful seafloor formation whose unique scientific and cultural value has brought it under consideration for special protection by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Lost City is also featured in many studies on the origin of life and the search for life in the solar system. This will be the first US expedition dedicated to the Lost City since the 2003-2005 expeditions.
The expedition will depart Woods Hole, Massachusetts on September 8 aboard the R/V Atlantis with a team of scientists and the ROV Jason team. They will return to San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 1. New updates will be posted to our blog. The unique scientific importance of the Lost City is explained on the Research page. A potential threat to the Lost City and other deep-sea hydrothermal fields is described on the Deep-Sea Mining page.
Return to Lost City 2018 is an NSF-funded oceanography expedition. Additional support is provided by the NASA Astrobiology Institute through our affiliation with the Rock-Powered Life Team, the Sloan Foundation’s Deep Carbon Observatory, and the NSF-funded Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations.
Follow the expedition on Twitter with #LostCity2018.
Learn more here.
