Explorers no longer take to the skies or travel to distant lands to discover the unknown, instead they look to the depths of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park. While we can see almost every corner of the globe thanks to Google Earth, beneath the ocean’s surface is an uncharted wonderland of canyons, cliffs and fascinating creatures.
The German RV Sonne is one of the world’s largest deep ocean research vessels. She was built in 2014 with a length of 118 m, breadth of 23 m and gross tonnage of 8554. She sails the world's oceans in search of cutting-edge science and we have just completed an expedition along the Great Barrier Reef margin.
The SS Yongala sank in 1911 during a cyclone near Cape Bowling Green in the central Great Barrier Reef. The wreck is about 100 m long lying on a flat seafloor in 26 m of water. The Yongala is one of the world's top dive destinations as the wreck provides a complex habitat for prolific marine life.
James Cook University scientists have helped discover the remnants of a massive undersea landslide on the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 30 times the volume of Uluru.
It cost A$200 million (S$215 million) - and ended in apparent failure - but experts say the two-year search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 aircraft was not in vain. According to marine scientists, the 120,000 sq km search for the Boeing 777 has produced an unequalled trove of vital information about the world deep beneath the ocean's surface.
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