≋ BELOWAN OCEAN FIELD GUIDE
Your expedition 0 / 5

A JOURNEY BENEATH THE FAMILIAR

There’s a whole
world below.

Leave the surface behind. Follow the light into the dark.
Discover what lives beyond the world we see.

Begin your descent

5 OCEAN ZONES · EXPLORE AT YOUR OWN PACE

Illustration of a whale drifting under the surface
THE SURFACE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING00° 00′ N   /   INTO THE BLUE
0 mSUNLIGHT ZONE

01 SUNLIGHT ZONE

The world
we know.

Most of the ocean’s familiar colors live in a remarkably thin layer. Here, sunlight gives photosynthetic life the energy to begin a food web. Beneath this bright surface, another world is waiting.

Stylized illustration: ray
A different kind of flightILLUSTRATION
Open field note

Sunlight generally supports photosynthesis in the upper 200 meters. The boundary shifts with water clarity and conditions.

KEEP EXPLORING200 m

200 mTWILIGHT ZONE

02 TWILIGHT ZONE

The light
lets go.

Blue fades into indigo. A little sunlight still filters down, but not enough to power photosynthesis. In this dim water, some animals create light of their own.

Stylized illustration: jelly
A little light, made from lifeILLUSTRATION
Open field note

Bioluminescence is light produced through chemical reactions in living organisms. It is common among many ocean animals.

KEEP EXPLORING1,000 m

1,000 mMIDNIGHT ZONE

03 MIDNIGHT ZONE

A world with
its own stars.

At this depth, sunlight is gone. A flash, a lure, a moving point of light: in the open ocean’s darkness, light can help an animal communicate, hunt, or disappear.

Stylized illustration: angler
Follow the smallest lightILLUSTRATION
Open field note

Some deep-sea anglerfishes carry a luminous lure. Different animals use bioluminescence in different ways; not every deep-sea animal glows.

KEEP EXPLORING4,000 m

4,000 mABYSSAL ZONE

04 ABYSSAL ZONE

Darkness.
Still, life.

The darkness continues, but the story does not end. The ocean’s deep habitats are home to organisms adapted to conditions very different from our own. Life has more than one way to make a living.

Stylized illustration: squid
An ocean beyond sunlightILLUSTRATION
Open field note

At some deep-sea hydrothermal vents, microbes use chemical energy instead of sunlight, supporting communities around them. Vents occur at a range of depths.

KEEP EXPLORING6,000 m

6,000 mHADAL ZONE

05 HADAL ZONE

Deeper than
imagination.

Beyond 6,000 meters, the hadal zone follows the ocean’s trenches. This is no empty ending. Even here, scientists have found life. Our journey becomes quieter. Our questions get bigger.

Stylized illustration: snailfish
The edge of our journeyILLUSTRATION
Open field note

Ocean zones are broad scientific divisions, not hard walls. These illustrations suggest deep-ocean life; their placement is not a species depth record.

KEEP EXPLORING11,000 m

A LITTLE FURTHER INTO THE UNKNOWN

The ocean ends.
Your curiosity doesn’t.

Take a little of the deep with you. Save a personal expedition card with the zones you’ve visited and your deepest point.

  1. 01SUNLIGHT ZONENot explored
  2. 02TWILIGHT ZONENot explored
  3. 03MIDNIGHT ZONENot explored
  4. 04ABYSSAL ZONENot explored
  5. 05HADAL ZONENot explored

An illustrated SVG keepsake. No email needed.

↑ Return to the surface