Name: Video: Watch: Join Great Lakes Now as an expedition explores the deep Lake Superior
Description: Join a livestreamed expedition to the deepest point in the Great Lakes and explore a hidden underwater world from your own screen. Watch the live stream on MPR News’ Facebook Page or on MPRnews.org.

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Join a livestreamed expedition to the deepest point in the Great Lakes and explore a hidden underwater world from your own screen.

More than 1,300 feet beneath the waves lies the deepest part of Lake Superior, the largest lake on Earth by surface area. It’s so deep that no light reaches this point.

40 years ago, researchers explored this area in a submersible to learn about the lakebed. It hasn’t been visited since. Today, this area may hold the key to questions that scientists have about the largest freshwater ecosystem on the planet.

Great Lakes Now is teaming up with freshwater explorers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick to send a high-tech remotely operated vehicle (ROV) back to the bottom, equipped with high resolution cameras that will document Lake Superior’s deepest point in unprecedented detail.

MPR News is partnering with Great Lakes Now to share the livestream video. The video is expected to begin Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern, noon Central, weather permitting.

The dive aims to capture images of species that have never been photographed in the wild, including the kiyi– a rare, deepwater relative of the lake whitefish that lives only in Lake Superior. The team will also be searching for the alien-looking deepwater sculpin, forests of colorful hydra (small creatures related to jellyfish, anemones, and corals), and the deepwater adapted siscowet lake trout.

Along for the voyage is Shawn Sitar, a fisheries research biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Sitar has been investigating 

the recent appearance of “zombie fish”

: emaciated siscowet turning up throughout Lake Superior. Many of these fish are coming from the deepest part of the lake and Sitar hopes that further exploration and observation could shed light on the phenomenon.

Sitar, Drebert, and Melnick will answer audience questions in real-time during the dive.

The date and time are subject to last-minute change due to weather conditions. Follow Great Lakes Now and Hidden Below: The Great Lakes on social media to stay updated about the expedition. Sign up for the Great Lakes Now newsletter to get reminders and updates delivered directly to your inbox: 

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/great-lakes-now-newsletter/

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Join a livestreamed expedition to the deepest point in the Great Lakes and explore a hidden underwater world from your own screen. Watch the live stream on MPR News’ Facebook Page or on MPRnews.org.

Watch: Join Great Lakes Now as an expedition explores the deep Lake Superior

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