We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the earth's oceans, but a private research vessel aims to bridge that gap by conducting groundbreaking research into the microlayer that connects the ocean and the atmosphere. The vessel stopped in Guam this week.

"It was a long expedition," said Monika Luma. "It was a five-week long very intense expedition; we departed from Darwin Australia then went through the Timor Sea and up to the Pacific Ocean, and got here to Guam." She's outreach coordinator for the Falkor - a research vessel from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. The institute was founded by Google executive Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. It stopped in Guam following a lengthy trip studying a relatively unknown part of the ocean known as the sea surface microlayer.

"And it's the part where the air touches the water, and it's as thin as a hair, but actually everything that goes into the ocean or out of the ocean has to go through that boundary layer, and the chemistry and the biology and everything that goes on in there, it's completely different from the water that is just below it," she added. "So everything is transformed once it crosses that barrier, but we don't know a lot about it because it's so difficult to study."

Scientists were able to use innovative research methods to study the layer through over 400 water samples, in the hopes that this information could lead to more accurate models used to predict the impacts of climate change. Luma continued, "So in this expedition what was also very exciting was not only that the science that we were doing was so novel, but also how we were doing the science, so we used unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones if you want to call them that, for the first time to carry scientific instruments away from the ship, because the ship is a metal structure, so it can affect the water that is around it."

Aside from the drones, scientists aboard the Falkor also used a remotely operated catamaran. Luma said these new and innovative instruments and techniques are available to any scientists who apply and are accepted to study aboard the Falkor. "If you're a scientist and you think you have something worth studying in the ocean, then you apply for time in the Falkor and you go through a very rigorous process and the if you're proposal was accepted then you are very lucky to have access to all the instruments we have on board, and you come sail with us and conduct the science because we understand that in order to learn from the planet we live in it is imperative that we understand better the ocean and that is so unexplored and we have so little resources globally dedicated to studying our ocean that that's our mission to just better our understanding and also push technology that we're using in order to study the ocean," she said.

The Falkor will be back in Guam this December for a transit trip to Hawaii. While in Guam, scientists will be conducting outreach activities in the community.