Bizarre ecosystem discovered more than two miles beneath the Arctic Ocean
Dynamic mounds of methane at a depth of about 3,640 meters act like “frozen rocks” for a bizarre array of deep-sea creatures, new observations show.
UIT/Ocean Census/REV Ocean
In the depths of the Arctic Ocean, life becomes strange. One might assume that at its greatest depth, the icy, black water would be largely inaccessible – but a new discovery reminds us that this is far from the case.
Off the coast of Greenland, the deep ocean floor is littered with giant mounds made of crystallized methane and other gases. Known as Freya hydrate mounds, these formations act like “frozen rock,” a haven for creatures that have evolved to live in an environment unlike any other on Earth.
In a new paper published in nature communicationScientists have documented the deepest of these dunes ever found, at 3,640 meters or approximately 2.26 miles below the surface. The discovery was made as part of the Ocean Census Arctic Deep-Extreme24 expedition to explore and research the Arctic environment and document marine life using instruments such as underwater robots.
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Incredibly, the mounds, also known as gas hydrate cold seeps, release flares of methane gas some 3,300 meters above the water – the highest such flares ever recorded. The dunes collapse and reform over time, a dynamic process researchers say provides insight into the Arctic’s diverse ecosystems.
UIT/Ocean Census/REV Ocean
“These are not stable deposits,” study co-author and professor at the Arctic University of Norway Giuliana Panieri said in a statement About new research. “They are living geological features, reacting to tectonics, deep heat flow and environmental change.”
The dunes are teeming with chemosynthetic organisms – life that has evolved to rely not on sun-powered photosynthesis but on chemical reactions for food. Some of the organisms observed at the Freya Mound are also found in hydrothermal vents, or cracks in the ocean floor, through which hot, chemical-rich water flows, suggesting that these ecosystems may be more interconnected than previously thought, the researchers said.
“The connections we found between this seep and life at hydrothermal vents in the Arctic indicate that these island-like habitats on the seafloor will need to be protected from any future impacts of deep-sea mining in the region,” John Copley, a study co-author and professor at the University of Southampton in England, said in the same statement.
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