Aquarius is an undersea laboratory owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Aquarius is administered through NOAA's National Undersea Research Program (NURP). Aquarius is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's (UNCW) National Undersea Research Center (NURC). NURP supports six Undersea Research Centers throughout the United States, each of which has a unique geographic charter and specialized capability to support scientists who conduct research in support of coastal and ocean resource science and management.
Mission Summary (NEEMO)
Aquarius is a national asset that supports scientists in their efforts to better understand our oceans and coastal resources. It offers scientists the advantage of being able to live and work on the seafloor for extended periods using a special technique called saturation diving. An open and competitive peer-review process is used to select proposals that are submitted to the program on an annual basis. Proposals target science and management issues of highest merit and relevance to NOAA, and in particular the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Over the course of more than 50 missions over 200 scientists participated directly in the program, representing over 90 organizations including universities from across the United States and several foreign countries.
Aquarius scientists work to understand our changing ocean and the condition of coral reefs. Coral reefs are threatened locally, regionally, and globally by increasing amounts of pollution, over-harvesting of fisheries, disease, and climate change. Science achievements from Aquarius include discoveries related to the damaging effects of ultraviolet light on coral reefs, geological studies that use fossil reefs to better understand the significance of present-day changes in coral reefs, research that is rewriting the book on how corals feed, growth studies of important sponges that uncovered surprising factors affecting their abundance and distribution, water quality studies to evaluate sources of pollution, and long-term studies of reefs to distinguish between changes caused by natural system variability and humans.
Construction and Early Operations
Aquarius was built in Victoria, Texas, in 1986 by Victoria Machine Works (VMW). Underwater operations first began in the United States Virgin Islands, in St. Croix's Salt River Canyon (now a national park and previously home to Hydrolab, the predecessor to Aquarius), in 1988. After 13 missions (and Hurricane Hugo), Aquarius was relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina where it was refurbished over an 18 month period by the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Aquarius remained in Wilmington until 1992 until it was deployed at its present location in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.