Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2018. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted an expedition to explore uncharted waters in the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico — and the images they're bringing back are astonishing. During the mission, scientists spent three weeks aboard NOAA's Okeanos Explorer exploring and documenting some of the little-understood species who call the seafloor home.