In their 10-year quest to clarify the role of deep carbon in Earth’s past, present, and future, Deep Carbon Observatory scientists journey to some of the most remote yet scientifically valuable places on the planet.
From establishing global volcano monitoring systems to collecting sediment, rocks, and gases from Earth’s vast seafloor, DCO scientists exploit innovative techniques and technologies to find surface clues about carbon lying deep inside Earth.
The map below provides a visual way to explore the suite of field studies undertaken by the DCO Communities. The red dots on the map represent field study sites, which are plotted using data drawn from the DCO Data Portal. Click on a dot for detailed information about a field study.
Journalists interested in accompanying DCO scientists into the field should contact Katie Pratt for more information.
Featured Projects

This project uses innovative Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technologies (drones with miniaturized gas-sampling equipment) to collect volcanic gas measurements at Manam and Rabaul volcanoes in Papua New Guinea. These volcanoes are actively degassing, but little is known about them because their plumes are difficult to access using ground-based techniques.

Scientists spent 47 days in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean collecting rocks from the shallow mantle of the ocean crust. It was the first time a new drilling technology was used to collect rock samples deep below the seafloor. The rock drills were equipped with new technologies that enabled the scientists to detect signs of life in the rock samples.

Biology Meets Subduction was a field-sampling program to investigate connections between microbiology, volcanic systems, and the cycling of living and dead carbon as Earth’s plates move and subduct past each other.

The Oman desert is the setting for a multi-national collaboration exploring ancient seafloors, now above ground. Scientists are conducting a two-year drilling project at the Samail ophiolite, the world’s largest and best-exposed sub-aerial block of oceanic crust and upper mantle. This exposed “deep ocean substrate” is affording rare investigations to discern the presence of carbon in subducted sediments and how microbial ecosystems exist in such extreme environments.

Twenty-five researchers were aboard the drilling vessel Chikyu, the world’s largest scientific research vessel, for a 60-day quest to determine the limits of life below the ocean’s floor. Working with six additional shore-based scientists, the team is attempting to define the temperature limits to deep life in marine sediments and to clarify key factors, including pressure, limiting Earth’s underground habitable zone.

The “Trail by Fire” team spent five months in the South American Andes conducting an exhaustive survey of active volcanoes in the Nazca plate subduction zone from Peru to Southern Chile. They took gas measurements at 15 active volcanoes, whose remote locations, high elevations and lack of established trails made for a challenging expedition, but one that filled a huge gap in the global database of volcanic gas emissions.
Field Studies Map
Each dot represents a location of a DCO field study. Click the dots for a window with more information about the respective project. Click the links in the windows to visit the DCO Data Portal.
Further Reading







