The Catlin Seaview Survey, with the help of award-winning cinematographer and shark researcher Richard Fitzpatrick, are taking Google+ Hangouts under the sea.

The Catlin Seaview Survey is a research project whose mission is the “carry out the first comprehensive study to document the composition and health of coral reefs on the Great Barrier reef and Coral sea.” They are going deep, very deep to explore how ocean changes are affecting these natural wonders.

Here’s what they had to say in a Google+ post:

A few weeks ago, we wanted to see if we could use Google+ to announce the project to a conference in Singapore directly from the ocean floor. It turns out, we could!

Check out the video from that test below:

They go on to say that now, they’re opening the Hangout to the masses:

But why limit that experience to a conference room? Why not invite everyone? We got a lot of questions about how our cameras work and how we’re planning to photograph the reef, so that will be the focus of our first Hangout on Air. Joining us will be Emmy award-winning documentarian +Richard Fitzpatrick from under the sea (with his trusty full-face mask and microphone) and photographers from Sydney & around the world.

The Catlin Seaview Survey has yet to announce a date and time for the Hangout, so we’ll have to stay tuned to their Google+ page for updates.

[Image courtesy Catlin Seaview Survey]