THe was signed by the Trump administration an executive order last month aimed at rapidly approval of approval for seabed critical minerals located in the deep sea. The move is faced with global condemnation, especially from experts saying that more research needs to be done with skill effects that may have a deep sea ecosystem, most of which remains unexplained.
A new study that has been published today at Advancement of Science Showing how much we know about the deep sea. According to research, people have noticed less than 0.001% of the deep sea – an area of almost the size of Rhode Island.
The deep sea refers to the section of the ocean below 200 meters (656 ft.), Where the light begins to disappear. Despite the manufacture of more than 90% of the Earth's sea environment, most deep sea ecosystems are a question mark for researchers.
But the area is critical for maintaining our climate – absorbs almost 90% of excess heat and about 30% of carbon dioxide released into the environment of human activities. “If all of that remained in the atmosphere, life would make the world impossible,” said Katy Croff Bell, president of the Ocean Discovery League, National Geographic Explorer, and leads with a study.
Read more: What to know about Trump's pushing to boost the depth of the deep sea
The area explored by humans is widely limited – and heavy bias toward some regions. More than 65% of visual observations occur within 200 nautical miles of three countries: the United States, Japan, and New Zealand, which means that most of our assumptions about the deep sea are based on a size of the minuscule sample.
“It's like if we make all the assumptions about terrestrial ecosystems from the observations of 0.001% of the land area, which is equal to smaller than the land of Houston, Texas,” Bell said.
To determine the seafloor volume we explored, the team drew data from approximately 44,000 deep sea dives with observations conducted since 1958. 0.001% also included assumptions about the number of private dissemination records that were not publicly recorded.
Read more: A climate solution is at the bottom of the ocean – but accessing it can have a huge cost to the environment
Because little is still aware of this ecosystem, many experts are afraid of deep sea mining may be at a high environmental risk. Thirty-two countries call for a training moratorium, and the Bell hopes that the study shows the need for further research before countries begin-and potentially not guaranteed-teaching deep sea skills.
“[We need to know] What kind of effects do we have in the deep sea, and will the deep sea recover from those activities? “Bell said.” A big open question now. What we do not want to do is do the irreversible damage to the deep ocean. So we really need this baseline information about the deep sea. “
