Admirable new world
We know less about the deep sea than we do about the moon. And it is urgent to know more. The oceans are the largest and most unknown living space on the planet. And they are also the foundations of life on Earth. Ana Hilário coordinates an international research program.
There are 28 thousand species described in the deep sea. It is estimated that there will be between 1 and 2 million species to be discovered. Threatened, even before we know them, by human activities.
Activities such as deep sea mining “will have tremendous impacts”, which we have not yet been able to fully anticipate. In January, Norway became the first country in the world to authorize mining in national waters.
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It is so urgent to know more about the deep sea that the United Nations asked the international scientific community for this joint effort in 2018. Marine biologist Ana Hilário coordinates, together with a British researcher, the ambitious international program Challenger 150. Researchers from 140 institutions from 52 countries joined forces. They intend to generate knowledge that allows better political decisions to be guided.
Ana Hilário guides us through the fascinations and abysses of the deeply unknown zone between 200 and 11,000 meters below the ocean’s surface.
