Dr. Achim Kopf, Professor at MARUM Bremen, Germany, headed the “Deep Sea & Sub-Seafloor” (DS3
F) Coordination Action
which gathered the best marine scientific minds in Europe together with technological industry leaders, environmental experts and policy makers. The result: a cohesive roadmap for an integrated approach to the further discovery, exploration and protection of new territories in the deep sea and it sub-bottom. Our understanding of the deep biosphere,
naturally occurring geoprocesses and their interrelationship with deep-sea ecosystems and geohazards is poor. Only in the past 20 years has technology
allowed scientists to explore the deep biosphere with methods such as deep-core sampling. Recent discoveries include ‘biofluids’ - liquids generated by sub- seafloor sedimentary processes which create environments capable of supporting large microbial communities. How life survives almost without energy and in conditions of perpetual deep-freeze poses an intriguing puzzle, - at first scientists were challenged to biosphere separate
communities were ecosystem
a rather thousands of than
contaminants from above – and an imposing research prospect. Sequencing of the genetic codes of
these
species reveals that nearly all are unknown to science, and many bear no relation whatsoever to any known species. The desire to explore the unknown is
joined by a growing need to understand the interdependencies between deep sea geo- biosphere systems and other ecosystems at a time when our impact is encroaching on these remote environments at an unprecedented rate. Increased activity in deep-sea fishing, hydrocarbon exploitation, mineral extraction and bioprospecting, and indirect impacts via climate change and pollution, mean it is increasingly vital to understand the reactions of deep-sea ecosystems to environmental change. The challenge includes finally unravelling
this part of the global carbon cycle and investigating the deep-sea paleoenvironment and how paleoceanographic processes are connected with climate change, and the governing principles and triggers behind marine geohazards like tsunamis and earthquake slips.
Links under the seas Given the complex interdependence of deep-sea biogeoprocesses and the high equipment costs of deep-sea exploration
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com
Derrick of deep-sea drilling vessel CHIKYU. MARUM Bremen, Germany
prove that these in fact
and sub-seafloor sampling, the only way to successfully tackle the opportunities and challenges of this frontier is with an integrated,
crossdisciplinary and
international approach that reflects this complexity. DS3
F championed this approach
by connecting research in marine life, geosciences, climate and environmental change with socio-economic issues and policy building for a long-term strategy. The DS3
“‘The deep sea and its sub-seafloor contain a vast reservoir of physical, mineral and biological resources that are rapidly coming into the window of exploitation”
F CSA began in January 2010 with
a meeting in Brussels, and held a dozen workshops and meetings on thematic topics spanning ‘Sedimentary seafloor and sub- seafloor ecosystems: past, present & future links’, ‘Sediment dynamics & geohazards’, ‘Geofluids and gas hydrates’, and ‘Climate change & response of deep-sea biota’ and ‘Geosphere-biosphere
interactions’. biological and geological work packages
were bracketed by two expert groups focusing on sub-seafloor sampling in the deep sea (drilling and coring) as well as deep sea infrastructure and synergies with existing initiatives in academia and those with mutual overlap with industry. DS3
The
emphasises the importance of creating synergies between industry, science and policy to form a strategic partnership, enabling better integration of
scientific 103
F
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