A second sweeping survey of the seafloor off the Southern California coast by researchers from UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography revealed aging military munitions and explosives littering the bottom of the ocean. The survey, conducted in April 2023, was a follow-up to one completed in 2021, which found barrel-sized objects organized in lines across 135 square miles of the San Pedro basin -- between Santa Catalina Island and Long Beach. Led by Scripps oceanographers Sophia Merrifield and Eric Terrill, the 2023 survey used a deep-water autonomous underwater vehicle with sonar and a remotely operated vehicle with an HD video camera, both capable of working up to full ocean depth of 6,000 meters or 19,600 feet, a statement from UCSD read. The expedition took place with support from the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and the Office of Naval Research. MORE: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/surve-finds-thousands-of-munitions/509-0f91db8e-a753-4524-a1f1-05b4e3512881