Isla Camille Duporge

One of thirty scientists selected to join a six-week marine expedition aboard the OceanXplorer, sponsored by the Government of Saudi Arabia Video of expedition. This expedition surveyed the largely unexplored Gulf of Aqaba and the Saudi Arabian side of the Northern Red Sea. I led a hydrophone survey of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and contributed to several marine mammal studies while onboard, including a helicopter-based survey, dive-based seagrass quadrat sampling for dugongs, turtle tagging, and participation in a Triton submarine dive to document deep-sea species. At the same time, the expedition team carried out bathymetric mapping of the entire marine zone of Neom. The image above was shot by shipmate Ivan Agerton.