Pacific
Twilight Zone Survey
200–1000m · ongoing
Marine science · Nonprofit
Mapping the ocean, one fathom at a time.
We fund open expeditions and publish every reading, turning the deep sea into data anyone can build on.
Why open data
The deep sea belongs to everyone, so the data should too. We publish every reading the day it is verified.
1.2M
Readings published
34
Expeditions funded
100%
Open access
Full water column
Standardised sensors from surface to a thousand metres.
Open by default
Every dataset released under a permissive license.
Students aboard
Grants that put early-career scientists on the water.
Global reach
Partners on four oceans and counting.
The expedition
Real ships, real readings
We buy ship time on working research vessels and instrument them to a shared standard, so the data lines up.
The data
Clean, documented, reusable
Every release ships with methods, calibration, and code, so another lab can build on it the same day.
Current expeditions
Live science, from surface to seabed.
Image prompt
A vivid coral reef survey with a diver's slate, bright teal water and yellow tape measure. Square product photograph, soft natural studio light, shallow depth of field, high detail, no text. Color palette: #04252b, #0d9488, #5eead4, #fef9c3. Use #04252b as the background so the image blends into the page.
Atlantic
Coral Census
Reef health · Q2
Arctic
Ice-Edge Drift
Cold currents · Q3
The work
What we run, and where
Every figure here is pulled from the fleet log at the close of each quarter.
Vessels
Two research catamarans, out of Monterey and Kodiak, crewed year round.
Moorings
Fourteen fixed sensor arrays between 200 and 2,800 metres, reporting hourly.
Coverage
A 1,900 kilometre transect of the eastern Pacific shelf, resurveyed twice a year.
Instruments
Temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH, and passive acoustics on every station.
Data
Raw and open inside thirty days. No embargo, no login, no licence fee.
Funding
Sixty-one percent public grants, thirty-two percent individual gifts, seven percent licensing.
The crew
Who goes out
Small teams, long rotations, and everybody stands a watch.
Dr. Ana Reyes
Chief scientist
Physical oceanographer, twenty-two seasons at sea and still counting them.
Nils Haugen
Fleet engineer
Keeps two boats and fourteen moorings alive on a nonprofit budget.
Priya Raman
Data lead
Built the pipeline that gets raw sensor data public in under a month.
Kai Toledo
Field ecologist
Runs the acoustic survey and can name a whale from its call alone.
“Their open data saved my lab a year of fieldwork.”
Before you ask
Questions
How is Fathom funded?
Members, grants, and philanthropy. No paywalls, ever.
Can I use the data commercially?
Yes, the license permits commercial reuse with attribution.
How do I propose an expedition?
We open a grant round twice a year, applications on the site.
Do you take volunteers?
Occasionally for shore work. Join the list to hear first.