UK scientists announce most detailed examination of deep ocean yet – which could give clues to the origin of life and sustaining life in space

Research to build on ground-breaking discovery of a second source of oxygen last year, Dark Oxygen, produced in complete darkness on the deep ocean floor. NASA in conversation with research team as it believes Dark Oxygen could be key to understanding how life could be sustained on other planets. Made possible by £2m funding package from The Nippon Foundation, research programme seeks to understand where Dark Oxygen is produced and collect samples to identify the source

Deep-sea scientists have announced the most detailed examination yet of our deep ocean which could provide clues to how life on Earth began – and even whether life can be sustained on other planets in and outside our solar system.

The team, led by Prof. Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), will send purpose-built sensors to the deepest parts of the ocean to further probe their discovery last summer of so-called ‘Dark Oxygen’, made possible by a £2m support package from The Nippon Foundation.

Dark Oxygen can be produced in complete darkness on the deep ocean floor, where light cannot penetrate, challenging the previously held scientific consensus that oxygen is produced solely from light through photosynthesis. The discovery of a second source of oxygen last year was a major scientific breakthrough and called into question how life began on Earth.

Prof. Sweetman said:

“Our discovery of Dark Oxygen was a paradigm shift in our understanding of the deep sea and potentially life on Earth, but it threw up more questions than answers.

“This new research will enable us to probe some of these scientific questions. If we show that oxygen production is possible in the absence of photosynthesis, it changes the way we look at the possibility of life on other planets too. Indeed, we are already in conversation with experts at NASA who believe Dark Oxygen could reshape our understanding of how life might be sustained on other planets without direct sunlight.”

The research team also seeks to understand if Dark Oxygen production takes place in other deep-sea areas and will take various measurements and readings to help identify the source. The investigations will begin later this year.

The support package from The Nippon Foundation will cover analysis costs for research in the central Pacific Ocean and the development of purpose-built and autonomous landers, or rigs, to carry specialist instrumentation to depths of 11,000 metres, where the pressure is more than one ton per square centimetre.

The three-year research programme will also investigate whether hydrogen is released, during the creation of Dark Oxygen, and whether it is used as an energy source for an unusually large community of microbes in parts of the deep ocean, as well as how climate change might impact biological activity in the deep sea.

The project will be the first of its kind to directly explore these processes and will allow researchers to study the deep seafloor into the Hadal Zone as well, an area which reaches 6,000 – 11,000 metres depth and makes up around 45% of the entire ocean. The purpose-built landers used to conduct the investigation will be the first UK-based assets with the capability of sampling below 6,000 metres depth.

Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, said:

“The sea is vital to sustaining human life and biodiversity, but even today so much of the deep sea is unknown. We are passionate about innovating to achieve a better society, and we are proud to support Professor Sweetman’s research into Dark Oxygen in the hope that we might learn more about the deep sea and the life which exists at the bottom of the ocean.”

Prof. Nick Owens, Director of SAMS, added:

“The discovery of Dark Oxygen last year was arguably the most significant in the history of SAMS, and has reinforced the UK’s standing as a global leader in marine exploration.

“As an institution, we trace our roots back to the UK’s Challenger Expedition of 1872-76. It is fitting that 150 years after that expedition gave us our first insights into the deep ocean, we are now uncovering some of its best-kept secrets.”

IOC UNESCO have endorsed the project as a UN Ocean Decade activity.