An
international team of researchers led by deep-sea biologist Tim Shank of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will use the world’s only
full-ocean depth, hybrid remotely operated vehicle, Nereus, and other
advanced technology to explore life in the depths of the Kermadec Trench. The
40-day expedition, which begins on April 12th,
kicks off an ambitious three-year collaborative effort funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of the project, known as Hadal Ecosystem
Studies (HADES), is to conduct the first-ever systematic study of life in ocean
trenches, comparing it to the neighboring abyssal plain—flat areas of the
seafloor usually found at depths between 3,000 and 6,000 meters.
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Due
to extreme pressures of these deep-sea environments and technical challenges
involved in reaching them, ocean trenches remain among the least explored
environments on the planet.
“We
know relatively little about life in our ocean trenches—the deepest marine
habitat on Earth. We didn’t have the technology to do these kind of detailed
studies before,” said Shank. “This will be a first-order look at
community structure, adaptation, and evolution—how life exists in the
trenches.”
The
multi-disciplinary international science team includes NSF-funded co-principal
investigators Jeff Drazen of the University of Hawaii (UH), and Paul Yancey of
Whitman College (WC), and international collaborators Malcolm Clark and Ashley Rowden
of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New
Zealand, Henry Ruhl of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of
Southampton, Alan Jamieson, Daniel Mayor and Stuart Piertny of the University
of Aberdeen (UA).
“The
proposal to study the deep-sea environment as part of HADES was high-risk, but,
we hope, also high-reward,” added David Garrison, program director in
NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. ”Through this exciting project, we
may shine a light on the darkness in Earth’s deep-ocean trenches, discovering
surprising results all along the way.”
Another
goal of this project is to use telepresence technology aboard the R/V Thomas G.
Thompson to allow the public to share in the discoveries during several
live-streaming web events from the seafloor that will include narration from
the science team. The scientists’ work will be chronicled in video, still
images and regular blog updates on the expedition website: http://www.whoi.edu/hades/
The
Kermadec Trench, off the northeastern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, is the
fifth deepest trench in the world with a maximum of depth of 10,047 meters
(32,963 feet or 6.24 miles). It is also one of the coldest trenches due to the
inflow of deep-water originating from Antarctica.
Read
more at WHOI.
Kermadec Trench image
via WHOI.