Avalanches of sediment in the ocean, called turbidity currents, are among the volumetrically most important sediment transport processes globally. Due to their fast speeds, turbidity currents can break critical infrastructure, and transport organic carbon and nutrients far into the deep-sea, thus sustaining deep-sea ecosystems. Until recently, we have largely had to rely on the deposits that they left behind or small-scale flows held ‘captive’ in the laboratory to understand turbidity currents. New developments in technology now enable detailed and direct measurements of powerful flows at field scale to complement these studies. Here, we present recent measurements gathered by a large consortium of researchers from a range of shallow to deep-marine settings worldwide that provide new insights into the internal anatomy of these these flows, how they initiate, evolve and interact with the seafloor.