Between February and August 2012, a team of NOAA and external partners will conduct a mapping ‘blitz’ focused on deepwater canyons off the northeastern seaboard. In preparation for this series of Atlantic Canyons Undersea Mapping Expeditions (ACUMEN), a team of NOAA and non-NOAA partners identified priority frontier areas along the continental shelf and slope. In total, five expeditions will gather baseline information to support science and management needs. The expeditions will highlight the complementary capabilities of three NOAA ships: Okeanos Explorer, Ferdinand R. Hassler, Henry B. Bigelow and the Nancy Foster for a NOAA-BOEM project. NOAA Partners include: the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), Office of Coast Survey (OCS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Office of Habitat Conservation, and the NESDIS/NODC National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC). External partners include: Virginia Sea Grant; Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean: New York Department of State and Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region. Key partners in the NOAA-BOEM project include USGS, Continental Shelf Associates, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and the Marine Conservation Institute.