Unveiling Antarctic Mysteries from Manned Submersibles

The highly endemic and diverse Southern Ocean marine benthos (organisms that live on the seafloor) are the greatest repository of all Antarctic biodiversity and are crucial for the stability of the overarching Antarctic marine ecosystem. Susceptible to current and projected changes, comprehensive baseline knowledge of the biodiversity of the Antarctic seafloor is becoming an increasingly important priority to predict change and inform management. That ecosystem currently hosts over 8,806 described marine species, though it’s estimated that as many as 17,000 species could exist on the continental shelf alone, highlighting the urgent need for ongoing exploration. Collecting biological data in the remote Southern Ocean is logistically difficult and prohibitively expensive, leaving large areas of the seafloor under-surveyed. This data gap is worrying, and it’s possible that we will lose species before they are discovered—Heartbreaking! To make progress, scientists must find novel and innovative ways to collect data. Leveraging partnerships with expedition ships and expert sub teams, we are working to formalize a standard operating procedure to collect trailblazing quantitative data from manned-submersibles on a regular basis.

If you are a polar scientist looking for seafloor images for your research, or an investor looking to support cutting-edge research, please get in touch!