The deep ocean remains the last unexplored frontier of our planet.
A place that holds secrets about the origin of life and could provide ecosystem goods and services for the sustainable development of humankind. On the other hand, serious threats to coastal communities and infrastructures from earthquakes and tsunamis are often associated with the volcanism that occurs on the seafloor.
High-tech devices and expertise from multiple scientific areas are necessary to further our understanding of how to solve these coast-abyss interactive threats. To do this, we propose a step-change in deep-sea science by connecting inter-/multi-disciplinary observatories and surveying technologies at various sites in the global ocean.
The coordination will contribute to integrating knowledge on deep-sea ecosystems functioning under global changes, to advancing hazard mitigation from natural hazards, and to engaging citizens with the deep ocean that faces growing pressure from human activities.
Below is a fact sheet giving more detail about the One Ocean Network for Deep Observation Decade programme: