From awe and wonder to ocean action

Two-thirds of our blue planet is out of sight, out of mind. We bring it into view.

We use immersive imagery, virtual reality and citizen science to reveal the ocean to the world, turning awe and wonder into action.

What we are working on now

Our work today is closer to home - helping people discover, record and protect the ocean on their own doorsteps.

What we’ve achieved to date

Underwater Earth commenced work back in 2010 with a simple, single-minded vision - to reveal the ocean to the world.

The ocean, representing over two-thirds of the world’s surface area, critical to the planet’s health and wealth, is out of sight and therefore out of mind. How can anyone love and care for something they cannot see and cannot understand. 

From this was born our first big idea… taking Google Street View underwater. 

Fast forward to now and our list of activities, outputs and outcomes include: 

• Developing our unique underwater camera system - the SVII, voted by TIME Magazine amongst the top 100 new scientific discoveries of 2015;

• Conceptualising and delivering the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, the most comprehensive scientific survey of coral reefs ever conducted, carried out over multiple years across 26 different countries, in partnership with The University of Queensland;

• Delivering specialist expeditions to the many corners of the ocean including Galapagos, Monaco, Brazil, Palmyra Atoll and Loch Ness (OK, so not part of the ocean);

• Capturing over 1 million panoramic images creating the world's largest open-source underwater scientific visual data archive, the Global Reef Record;

• The announcement, revealing and tracking of The Third Global Coral Bleaching Event which in turn, became the subject of the Emmy award-winning Netflix Original documentary (and impact campaign), Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski and his team at Exposure Labs;

• Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea, a major exhibition at the Natural History Museum London;

• Conceptualising and launching 50 Reefs, a global science-backed plan to save coral reefs, once more in partnership with The University of Queensland;

• A collection of immersive, award-winning VR films including Guardians of the Kingdom which has since toured major global conservation events and festivals;

• Partnering with Ocean Lovers Alliance since 2019 in support of their annual Ocean Lovers Festival;

• Nominating and then championing the Mission Blue Sydney Coast Hope Spot;

• Launching our Google Arts and Culture gallery;

• Supporting the incubation of Ocean Impact Organisation, Australia's ocean impact innovation ecosystem and startup accelerator, helping people start, grow and invest in businesses that positively impact the ocean;

• Curating and touring our immersive exhibition - Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

• Developing and successfully launching in 2025 the Sydney Coast Marine Bioblitz in partnership with Ocean Lovers Festival and Mission Blue.

• Piloting a new initiative called Ocean Detectives.

We could not have done this without our partners & collaborators including:

Google, XL Catlin (now AXA XL), The University of Queensland, NOAA, IUCN, UNESCO, the Oceanographic Institute Monaco, Mission Blue, Exposure Labs, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Tiffany and Co. Foundation, the Paul G Allen Family Foundation, Vulcan Productions, Ocean Impact Organisation, Ocean Lovers Alliance, the Australian National Maritime Museum, the Auxilium Foundation and many others.

Underwater Earth respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of all unceded lands on which we operate and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Always was and always will be Sacred Aboriginal Land.