we are official...

Here is the official email announcement from NOAA:

NOAA Ocean Exploration is pleased to announce that the "2007: Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea" web site is now live at:

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/welcome.html

This expedition will travel to unexplored waters south of the Philippine Islands from September 27 – October 16, in search of the strange, and possibly unknown, fishes, jellyfish, squids and shrimp that live in the dark deep waters of the Celebes Sea. Lying just north of the equator, the Celebes Sea is the center of the most biologically diverse area of the world’s ocean.

The Southeast Asian nations of Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia occupy one of the richest biological environments on Earth. Sometimes called the “coral triangle” this region of islands and ocean basins is considered a ‘hotspot’ of biodiversity both on land and in shallow marine environments. Until now, most of our knowledge of marine biodiversity here is from shallow water environments; the deep sea is almost entirely unexplored. The goal of the 2007: Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea mission is to learn more about this center of shallow water biodiversity by studying the fauna in the midwater realm and making extensive vertical surveys of the water column.

Web coverage includes Speciation, Midwater Technology, Bluewater Diving, Marine Conservation, and Sea Surface Temperature content essays written especially for this mission. Web logs, including video and images, authored by scientists and other explorers at sea will be submitted via satellite phone to allow others to share in daily activities and discoveries at sea. An RSS feed will also be published for the daily logs. An “Ask an Explorer” feature is available to submit questions to and receive answers from the explorers while they are engaged in the mission.

The Ocean Explorer Expedition Education Module (EEM) available through the Education link on this expedition’s website includes a summary of the purpose of this expedition; lesson plans designed specifically for this expedition; interactive educational multimedia presentations on Ocean Currents, and Food, Water, and Medicine from the Sea; profiles of scientists representing careers featured during this mission; and a list of other resources and links related to the 2007: Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea mission.

Join this exciting expedition at: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/07philippines/welcome.html