500m below the Indian Ocean

Jyodee participated in this first deep-sea mission in the Chagos Archipelago in two Triton submersibles, where they conducted daily dives to document the seafloor and fish communities to at least 500m deep.

Jyodee’s research in the archipelago focuses on depth zonation in shallow coral reef communities and their changing structure due to climate change. This expedition gave her the opportunity to see the reefs as well as observe potential indirect anthropogenic impacts on the ecosystem below diving depths. Using state-ofthe-art video and sampling equipment on the submersibles, the team were able to collect data on hard coral, fish, seaweed, soft coral and echinoderm populations from 60 – 500 m deep across the archipelago. While providing early career scientists like Jyodee training in deep water ecology and conservation management, the data generated from this expedition will provide a better understanding of the unique deep-sea ecosystem of the central Indian Ocean.