In the last 40 years methods of monitoring the deep-sea have changed dramatically, partly thanks to technology.
Early expeditions would deploy most of their equipment over the side of the boat – samplers would pick up mud and water, and trawling devices would scrape the sea bed for invertebrates.
The modern technology on-board the RRS James Cook consists of submersibles, hydrophones, and robotic submarine gliders.
Dr Gates said: "The quantity of information that we're collecting as we're travelling around is probably the biggest change now.
"We've got instrumentation which is measuring the surface ocean as we travel. It's bringing in water to sensors that are measuring carbon dioxide, temperature, and salinity."
Another piece of technology used onboard are hydrophones – an underwater device that detects and records ocean sounds from all directions.
Scientist Dr Dara Farrell said the devices helped identify mammal vocalisation, human activity, and even underwater landslides.
"We're just going to try and find out what is out there," she said.
On another deployment, she explained how she saw a line on a particular frequency of a spectrogram that looked strange.
"We hypothesized that is was due to fish that have swim bladders releasing air to change their position in the water," she said.
"Without video evidence you're never quite totally sure but it's really cool."
For Southampton University student Ben Walker, this expedition will be his first.
He is helping conduct research on a specific species of amphipod, which was first discovered in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain on the first mission there.
What he finds will help contribute to his masters degree next year, and he said he felt honoured to be onboard the ship.
"To look around and see nothing but the sea knowing you're 4,800m above the sea floor and to actually get samples from there and actually look at them and be able to see them as they come up is an amazing feeling," he said.
