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The deep Arctic Ocean contains huge reserves of oil and natural gas, as well as valuable rare earth elements and metals. With climate change accelerating the melting of the ice, these resources are becoming increasingly available. Arctic mining will present significant economic opportunities, but will also present serious environmental risks. A recent study published in the journal Elementa highlights the urgent need to protect this sensitive ecosystem as human activity in the region increases.
Deep Arctic and its unused resources
According to estimates, the deep Arctic Ocean may contain up to 13% of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of its natural gas reserves. In addition, the region offers many rare earth elements and metals necessary for the construction of modern technologies. The potential economic benefits of these resources have attracted increasing political and commercial attention, further enhanced by the opening of new shipping lanes and increased Arctic tourism.
"Climate change and melting sea ice are making it increasingly easy to explore the Arctic Ocean, but this also entails great environmental risks," warned Dr. Angelica Brandt of the Senckenberg Research Institute.
Diverse and little-known habitats
The deep-sea habitats of the Arctic Ocean have a remarkable diversity of life forms, many of which remain poorly understood. An international team of researchers analyzed 75 data sets covering 404 deep-sea species. The obtained results emphasize the need for more intensive research and international cooperation to fill existing gaps in knowledge.
"While we have made great progress in understanding the Arctic ecosystem through new technologies and infrastructures, there are still significant gaps in our knowledge of the deep-sea communities that live on the seafloor - as our new study clearly demonstrates," said Dr. Brandt.
Characteristics of the Arctic
The researchers studied data from freely available databases, undigitized scientific literature and information resources, focusing on samples from areas north of 66 degrees latitude and deeper than 500 meters. Their analysis revealed the following conclusions.
Biodiversity
The phylum Arthropoda — which includes isopods and copepods — had the most individual records (21). Other common groups included annelids, sponges and molluscs, with the latter showing the greatest species richness.
Unique species in the deep Arctic Ocean
The brittle star Ophiocten gracilis was found at a depth of more than 1000 meters during the Polarstern expedition between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.
Geomorphological diversity
The Arctic has a variety of geological structures such as underwater canyons, continental slopes, seamounts and biologically formed formations such as cold coral reefs.
“Not only have we comprehensively digitized important deep-sea data and published it in freely available databases, but we have also collected, verified and comprehensively analyzed new deep-sea data. This allowed us to show that, contrary to popular belief, the Arctic Ocean actually has a very rich diversity of organisms," explained Dr Hanye Saidi.
Data gaps from the deep Arctic
Despite these advances, significant knowledge gaps remain, particularly regarding benthic biodiversity in the deep basins of the central Arctic. The study's habitat maps link faunal groups to specific geomorphological areas, identifying regions with limited data.
"Intergenerational collaboration within the UN Decade of Oceans and international collaboration with deep-sea experts and AWI were critical to this research," said Dr. Saskia Brix, emphasizing the importance of collaboration.
Protection of the arctic ecosystem from mining
The Arctic deep sea is far from the lifeless environment that early explorers imagined. However, the intensification of international cooperation and active monitoring of ecological parameters and faunal composition are important.
"This is the only way for us to better understand the structure and function of the Arctic ecosystem and ensure that action is taken to conserve this unique ecosystem that is so important to the northern hemisphere," said Dr Brix.
"Particularly given the growing economic and political interests, the lack of data on benthic biodiversity—especially in the deep basins of the central Arctic Ocean—poses a significant challenge for sound management and conservation actions," said Dr. Saidi.
Measures for mining and preservation of the Arctic
The untapped resources of the Arctic Ocean offer undeniable economic opportunities, but the stakes for its fragile ecosystem are enormous. As global interest in the region grows, prioritizing ecological conservation through research, international cooperation and sound conservation policies is increasingly critical. Only by understanding the deep-sea biodiversity of the Arctic can humanity ensure that economic ambitions do not come at the expense of this vital and unique environment. The study is published in the journal Elementa.
