The remains of a previously undisturbed and hidden forest of Bald cypress trees sit sixty feet under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Discovered by divers after the ravages of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some of the trees are thought to be 50,000 years old—or even older.

The site is near the coast of Mobile, AL, and is believed to have been completely buried under layers of seafloor sediment before the 2005 hurricane uncovered it. Now geologists and dendrochronologists are racing against an estimated two year clock to explore the forest before oxygen exposure and the activities of marine organisms destroy what remains.