WHEN: June 6, 2026 | 1 P.M. BACKUP DATES: June 7, 8 and 9
WHERE: Lake Superior, approx. 35 miles north of Munising, MI
LANDING PAGE: https://greatlakesnow.org/hiddenbelow
*the live stream will also play in the theater of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center
DESCRIPTION: Join a livestreamed expedition to the deepest point in the Great Lakes and explore a hidden underwater world from your own screen.
More than 400 meters (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.
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.
NOTE: 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/
The First Dive
The first time anyone visited the deepest point of Lake Superior was in 1985 when University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher Val Klump led a submersible expedition down as part of his research about sediment activity on the lakebed. This was part of a longer, multi-year expedition coordinated by Michigan State University and University of Connecticut with funding from NOAA, which involved the R/V Seward Johnson (and the submersible Johnson Sea Link II) exploring the Great Lakes with a rotating crew of scientists and researchers. An additional dive to the deepest point was conducted in 1986 as part of the same expedition.