The Challenger Deep is the deepest known portion of the world’s seas, located in the Mariana Trench of the western Pacific Ocean.
Victor Vescovo and oceanographer Dawn Wright made a particularly notable dive on July 12, 2022, to a depth of 10,919 meters (35,823 feet) in the Western Pool. Dawn Wright used the world’s first full-ocean depth side scan sonar on this dive to get comprehensive photos along the Western Pool’s southern edge. This technical innovation represents an important moment in oceanic research and imaging capabilities at great depths.