COBRA Webinar – November 2026

A Representative Approach to Visually Observing the Deep Seafloor: The Methods Behind the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals

Dr. Katy Croff Bell, Susan Poulton, Dr. Brian Kennedy (Ocean Discovery League)

Less than 0.001% of the deep seafloor has been visually observed. The Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals are a coordinated international effort to visually explore 10,000 strategically selected locations across the deep seafloor, creating the first representative global dataset of deep-ocean imagery. This initiative provides a data-driven roadmap to close that gap by identifying locations that reflect the full diversity of deep-sea environments across ocean basins, depths, and geological features.

In this webinar, Dr. Katy Croff Bell, Founder and President of Ocean Discovery League, Susan Poulton, VP of Strategy and Communication for ODL, and Dr. BrianKennedy, ODL Chief Scientist, will walk through the methodology behind the point selection, recently published in Science Advances in April, 2026. The spatially balanced, probability-based sampling approach integrates four seafloor characteristics: bathymetry, geomorphology, sediment composition, and particulate organic carbon flux, while accounting for documented historical deep-submergence deployments. It aims to correct for historical observational biases across factors such as depth zones, ocean basins, geomorphology, and maritime jurisdictions. These proposed targets will nearly double the number of unique observed seafloor locations, establishing a more geographically and environmentally representative dataset. They will also discuss how Ocean Discovery League’s work in low-cost technology development and capacity building will support this initiative.