Cloud Hosting

By Sandrine Ceurstemont

Wolf eels can be found more than 200 metres below the ocean surface

Franco Banfi/naturepl.com

The Deep-Sea Podcast

Armatus Oceanic

Advertisement

IT IS hard to imagine what the deep sea actually looks like. There is practically no light in this lowest layer of the ocean, which starts at a depth of 1800 metres and reaches almost 11,000 metres at its deepest-known point within the Mariana trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Hence nobody has actually seen the deep sea close up, meaning we typically rely on colourful depth maps created with acoustic techniques to visualise it.

Furthermore, it is hard to make sense of the sheer scale of what lies underwater. The Pacific Ocean covers almost half the planet, for example. Due to its intangible nature, inaccurate analogies are often used to describe the deep sea.

Alan Jamieson at the University of Newcastle, UK, is renowned for his journeys to the deepest parts of the ocean. He has teamed up with Thomas Linley, a deep-sea fish expert, to co-host a podcast that portrays the deep sea as it really is, but without removing any of the wonder. Every episode of The Deep-Sea Podcast delves into both important issues, such as whether deep-sea mining should be allowed to happen, and more light-hearted angles, such as a Halloween special on why humans seem to intrinsically fear the deep sea.

The first instalment kicks off with one of Jamiesons biggest bugbears: comparing the deep sea with the moon. It is often said that we know more about the moons surface than the deep sea, which he says is just plain wrong. What other scientific discipline would start by saying how little they know about it?

Jamieson thinks the analogy is unfair, firstly because the moon isnt that big. The surface area of the Atlantic Ocean, for example, is almost three times larger than that of the moon. And while crewed missions to the moon have pretty much stopped, those to the deep sea have never ceased and have even ramped up. We know so much more about the deep sea now than we did five years ago or 10 years ago, says Jamieson.

Each episode features an interview with a guest. Recent examples include director and producer James Cameron, who chatted about deep-sea tech and delved into the secrets of underwater lighting he learned while filming Titanic, as well as discussing ideas like walking on the seafloor by embedding consciousness in a robot.

The guests provide unique perspectives. For example, Alexandra Gould, a UK-based artist who accompanied scientists on a deep-sea expedition in 2019, sketched almost all the crew, as well as sea life and moments that represented her interaction with the vessel when she was onboard. While marine biologists typically aim to analyse deep-sea creatures in detail, she says she prefers not to know too much about their biology as it can take away from the awe they inspire.

The Deep-Sea Podcast has many compelling moments, and the hosts provide expertise on aspects of the field. However, episodes are quite long, often lasting more than hour, and try to cover too much. They incorporate deep-sea news, for instance, which seems like it could merit its own podcast.

All in all, the show suggests that our relationship with the deep sea is becoming more complex. So far, it has been relatively untouched, apart from during scientific research. However, new ventures like deep-sea mining and tourism could soon change that, with the first leisure trips taking place last year. Vast amounts of the deep ocean havent even been looked at, says Cameron. It would be nice if we understood it before we destroy it.

Fix the Planet newsletterFind out how technology is tackling climate change newscientist.com/fix

More on these topics:

Read the rest here:
The Deep-Sea Podcast review: The mind-boggling mysteries of the deep - New Scientist