Two landers capable of withstanding 1,200 times the pressure on the Earth’s surface will journey into the depths of the ocean later this year to gain a better understanding of the origin of ‘dark oxygen’.
Almost all deep sea life needs oxygen to survive, but sunlight barely penetrates beyond 200 metres deep, which means photosynthesis cannot occur. Scientists previously believed that photosynthesis and oxygenation on the surface, coupled with swirling ocean currents, eventually transported oxygenated water into the depths.
But a major recent theory postulates the existence of ‘dark oxygen’ after researchers discovered in 2024 that metallic nodules in the deep sea appeared to be producing the gas. These nodules, which contain highly sought-after metals, could clarify how animal life is distributed thousands of metres beneath the waves.
The exact process for how this oxygen is generated is still unclear, but a new three-year research project aims to answer this question through the use of...