DOSI Deep-Sea Round-Up

The REV Ocean HACON21 expedition is returning to Svalbard after the successful completion of the sampling and filming of one of Earth’s last truly remote & inaccessible environments 4000m below the permanent ice pack in the Arctic Ocean. Get all the updates and read DOSI’s Maria Baker’s latest post from the ship HERE. This cruise will contribute to the Challenger 150 programme.

This week deep-sea fishes are under the spotlight with two new papers: one an assessment of those living in the hadal and abyssal depths, while the other considers a new way of measuring metabolic rates of their mesopelagic neighbours, the myctophids. Deep-sea invertebrates also get a strong showing with new papers on surprisingly complex holothurians, the evolution and phylogeny of isopods, the cryptic diversity of scavenging amphipods, and a previously shared paper on deep-sea shrimps racks up some global media coverage.

Question: might a new paper indicating the superior performance of lithium-ion batteries with recycled cathode materials compared to those which use newly-mined cathodes, in conjunction with an FT article on the disappearance of a key The Metals Company investor, spell trouble ahead for companies seeking to mine the deep seabed?

In Opportunities this week there are PhDs, fellowships and full-time staff scientist roles on offer. While in Wanted, the UK Parliament seek evidence on access to seabed resources to help with an inquiry as to whether UNCLOS is fit for purpose.

Plus… The Earthshot winners are revealed… And your final chance to: 1. join a team running DOSI’s Instagram account and 2. hook up with the deep-sea community at COP26!

CLICK FOR YOUR DEEP-SEA ROUND-UP – 21st October 2021