With 95% of the ocean floor unexplored, the
deep sea is Earth’s last frontier.
Its pioneers are scientists leveraging the
latest technology to cast light on the massive
and incomprehensibly dark environment that
extends more than 35,000 feet down.
Until recently, this world was known only
to our planet’s most unearthly species.
This is the story of our largest biome—and
the people devoting themselves to understanding
it and saving it for future generations.
40 years ago we discovered hydrothermal vents,
which act as Earth's plumbing system, transporting
chemicals and extreme heat from the molten
core of our planet, helping to regulate the
chemical makeup of the oceans.
But this seemingly toxic environment is still
home to life.
Organisms that don’t need photosynthesis
to survive can live down here.
And with most of the seafloor left to explore,
many species remain undiscovered.
Studying these unlikely ecosystems can teach
us about the earliest stages of life’s evolution
here on Earth, and about the possibility of
life on other planets.
That’s why NASA is working with oceanographers
to help plan the mission to explore Jupiter's
ice-covered moon, Europa.
And because these vents form in active volcanic
zones, they also help us better understand
how land forms and moves over time.
Plus, the sludge that’s constantly spewing
from the vents contains some of the most valuable
metals known to man.
[Guardian video journalist] “In the deep
ocean, where the water is as dark as ink,
lie riches that no treasure hunters have managed
to retrieve.
They are deposits of precious minerals, from
cobalt to gold, that have tantalized miners
and nations for decades...”
In 2019, a Canadian company will make the
first-ever attempt at extracting these minerals.
Using the latest technologies and massive,
custom designed vehicles, it aims to bring
up $1.5 billion worth of metals from a single
site 25km off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
Nautilus says it will minimize environmental
damage by using infrared cameras and sonar
to pinpoint the exact location of ore deposits,
allowing it to shred less of the ocean floor.
But environmentalists aren’t buying it.
Preserving a sensitive ecosystem 8,000 feet
underwater from the impact of mining is just
not that simple.
Unfortunately, we may not have much choice.
There’s growing demand for these metals,
but dwindling supplies of them on land.
Cobalt — for instance — is used in jet
engines, lithium ion batteries, and the computer
or smartphone you’re watching this video
on—and the machines we made it on.
But this age-old clash between miners and
environment is really just one chapter in
a much larger story of technology development—innovations
aimed at maintaining the delicate balance
of the increasingly threatened ocean ecosystem.
One such tool is the EK80 broadband acoustic
echo sounder.
It uses a range of frequencies to paint a
much more comprehensive picture of the amount
and types of species living in a selected
area of water.
“What you see can be very different at different
frequencies.
For example if you’re using very low frequency
sound you’re not going to see the zooplankton.
So you might think, ‘oh, the ocean is empty,
there’s nothing here.’
But then you look at a higher frequency and
suddenly you see the zooplankton.
People think that there’s much more biomass
locked down in the mesopelagic zone.
It has been grotesquely underestimated.
As a biologist I want to know, ecological
meaningful quantities like how many animals
are present, what size are they, what kind
are they?”
Species mapping should also help identify
the areas of the ocean where the most life
exists, from the ocean floor all the way up
to the surface.
Allowing us to then protect those areas.
Only 5% of the ocean is currently protected
in some way, compared to 15% of land.
Another urgent problem is multi drug-resistant
bacteria that kill thousands of people a year.
By gathering microbes from different parts
of the sea, researchers can test many different
combinations to create the most effective
medicines.
“We’re finding microbes that produce really
interesting chemistry, and could be used to
develop new therapeutics in the future, from
bermuda off the backs of trichodesmium which
is a small phytoplankton, from mud samples
off the coast of Vancouver, and from right
off the beach here in shore lab, from - of
all places - a comb jelly.
We’ve only cultured 1-2% of all marine bacteria.
So can you imagine the chemical diversity
waiting there to be discovered, described,
and harnessed?”
Biofluorescence, which has revolutionized
neuroscience over the past two decades, is
yet another powerful tool that came from the
ocean.
These proteins were first found in corals,
but marine biologists like David Gruber have
discovered that many animals also possess
this light-altering trait.
[David Gruber] “We set out looking for this
one fish, and, in the process we discovered
20 other.
We began thinking, what about sharks?”
Glow-in-dark sharks are pretty cool, but the
most critical area of ocean research surrounds
climate change, and how our planet’s interconnected
ecosystem will be affected in the future.
The atmospheric physicist Susan Avery summarized
this in a TED talk a few years back.
“Not only is that infusion of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere inducing warming on the
planet, it also is inducing major chemical
changes on a global scale in the ocean.
And that bottom curve shows what’s happening
in terms of the pH, which is a measure of
the acidification of the ocean.
The ocean uptakes carbon from the atmosphere.
When that carbon dioxide enters the ocean,
it dissolves, it becomes more acidic.
As the upper layers mix with the lower levels,
the pH decreases and you have a more acidic
global ocean.”
Irish oceanographer Triona McGrath expanded
on this point during a recent TED talk of
her own.
“There has already been an increase in ocean
acidity of 26 percent since pre-industrial
times which is directly due to human activities.
Unless we can start slowing down our carbon
dioxide emissions, we’re expecting an increase
of ocean acidity of 170% by the end of this
century.
I mean this is within our children’s lifetime.
This rate of acidification is ten times faster
than any acidification in our oceans for over
55 million years.
So our marine life have never ever experienced
such a fast rate of change before.
So we literally could not know how they’re
going to cope.
Now there was a natural acidification event
millions of years ago which was much slower
than what we’re seeing today, and this coincided
with a mass extinction of many marine species...”
We’re already seeing evidence of acidification
damaging corals and shellfish.
As acidification increases, the shells of
many of these species will stop growing and
eventually begin to dissolve.
Pteropods, for example, play a vital role
in the ocean’s food system, feeding everything
from krill to salmon to wales.
In one terrifying experiment, the shell of
the pteropod was placed into seawater with
a pH level that we’re on course to experience
by the end of the century.
After just 45 days, you can see how the shell
has almost completely dissolved.
Facts like these underscore the important
role oceanic research plays in preparing humanity
for the challenges that lie ahead.
One man who’s been instrumental in the field
of deep sea discovery is Robert Ballard.
A leading explorer of shipwrecks, Ballard
has led the takeover of Remote Operated Vehicle
exploration.
His large research vessel, the E/V Nautilus,
is equipped with four ROV’s.
“Ballard is using one of the most sophisticated
exploration systems ever assembled.
It allows him to go where noone has gone before.
Our vehicles are designed to go to 20,000
feet, so we’re not restricted by depth.
In fact, I prefer going deep.”
But what makes Ballard’s set-up truly state-of-the-art
is its cutting edge telepresence system.
The Nautilus crew can beam live, HD video
of microbes at the bottom of the sea to a
biologist sitting in front of an internet
connected computer anywhere on Earth, helping
to stretch the extremely tight budgets of
oceanic researchers everywhere.
But not every explorer is ready to give up
the benefits of seeing a new place with their
own eyes.
In 2012, the deep-pocketed director of Titanic,
James Cameron, piloted a submarine he designed
and built himself, the Deepsea Challenger,
to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest
part of the ocean.
[Cameron] “Touchdown.
Surface, this is Deepsea Challenger.
I am on the bottom.
Depth is 35,756 feet.
And everything looks good.”
[Bryce] After completing his expedition, Cameron
generously donated the multimillion dollar
vehicle to the Wood’s Hole Oceanographic
Institute.
Manned submersibles have played an important
role in the brief history of ocean exploration,
but the discovery of the RMS Titanic, whose
story Cameron famously told in his 1997 blockbuster
film, was actually made by Robert Ballard
and his unmanned Remote Operated Vehicles.
“September 1st, 1985.
1am. [Ballard] Initially we didn’t know
if we were on the right trail until that magic
moment when the boiler came underneath our
cameras.
‘Look at that, what the hell?
Ooh!
God it looks nice.
It’s a boiler!
Looks like a boiler.
It’s a boiler!
Yes, yes.
[cheering]’ We had a picture of that boiler
on the wall of the control room and everyone’s
head looked to the picture, looked back and
we knew it was the Titanic.
‘Goddamn!
Break out the champagne!’”
[Bryce] Just like they had done in the search
for the Titanic, unmanned Remote Operated
Vehicles can stay submerged for days at a
time.
And, with technology getting better by the
day, land-based researchers watching on their
computers will feel more and more like they’re
right down there with the robot on the bottom
of the ocean.
“When I started, ALVIN was really the only
effective way to get to the seafloor, to do
science on the seafloor.
ROV’s were not a primary tool for getting
to the seafloor.
In the 25 years I’ve been at the institution,
ROV’s have progressed to the point where
now they’re a completely valid scientific
tool and they’re in use all around the world.”
“This vehicle is equipped to handle all
sides of deep sea exploration.
These are brand new cameras that we got and
they’re just phenomenal.
We get detail that you couldn’t see in a
manned submersible, through a porthole.”
But regardless of whether we use humans or
robots, what matters most is that we’re
giving our scientists the resources they need
to continue exploring, learning, and sharing
what they’re finding.
“These are the moments I live for.
You spend all this time out on the sea and
then, in between all the searching, you make
these incredible discoveries.
Pushback, pushback, pushback.
Make discoveries that completely rewrite history.
That is what an explorer wants to do.”
Thanks for watching.
We had a lot of fun exploring the Future of
Farming, and since you seemed to enjoy it
too, we’ll continue this series with the
Future of Internet Infrastructure as one of
our next videos.
That idea was based on an awesome comment
suggestion.
Those really help us out, so keep them coming.
Until next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.
