Explore Our History

Live From The Deep

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) recognizes Live from Monterey Canyon as North America's best new Aquarium and zoo education program for 1991. This unique auditorium program, the first of its kind in the world, features live video broadcasts from a deep-sea research submersible operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Here's How It Works

Specialized video cameras mounted outside MBARI's remotely operated vehicle—a robot submarine—transmit images via a 1,500-meter fiber optic cable to the institute's research ship, the Pt. Lobos. Pilots and scientists on the ship control the movement of the ROV and the cameras.

The images they see in the ship's control room are transmitted simultaneously by microwave to a relay station on Mt. Toro. The signal is then beamed to a satellite dish at MBARI and on to the Aquarium.

Learn more about our Mysteries of the Deep auditorium program.