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Launching our 2021 expedition season was an expedition unlike others previously conducted by Nautilus Live. Within the traditional and modern lands and waters of the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash peoples off the coast of Southern California is a low-oxygen region known as the Santa Barbara Basin. Characterized by low levels of oxygen and high sedimentation from upwelling that brings with it high levels of nutrients, the basin is a unique environment excellent for examining microbial adaptations that may one day help in studying ocean worlds of the outer solar system. It is here that the Nautilus Live Corps of Exploration deployed the Autonomous Biogeochemical Instrument for in situ Studies (ABISS) lander, a prototype for a wireless seafloor sampling platform with onboard experiments to study microbial activity, measure ambient light, and conduct an incubation experiment autonomously on the seafloor. The overall goal of this expedition was to continue expanding our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth
