Deep sea mining, seafloor vents, underwater drones, bioluminescent sharks, and the disturbing effects of ocean acidification highlight the near future of oceanographic discovery. Subscribe to TDC: null Video by Bryce Plank and Robin West Music: Timelapse (TDC Remix): MotionArray.com Drums of the Deep by Kevin MacLeod: Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400021 Consequence (Matt Stewart-Evans): https://soundcloud.com/mattstewartevans https://www.facebook.com/Matthew.Stewart.Evans Hydra (TDC Remix): YT Audio Library The Stranger (Glimpse): https://soundcloud.com/glimpse_official Dark Night by Matt Stewart Evans: https://soundcloud.com/mattstewartevans https://www.facebook.com/Matthew.Stewart.Evans Featured videos: Mining: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/video/2017/jun/28/robots-ocean-floor-deep-sea-mining-video Sonar mapping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRQuID0IwbY Microbes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uktdKw_bJ_8 Biofluorescence: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/david-gruber/ Susan Avery TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMQIgKyX3oU Triona McGrath TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPpJhQxaLw Robert Ballard's EV Nautilus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOIOXvU0_qk James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSfESqX-E84 Wired's profile on HOV's vs ROV's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUzz_ilsFa0 Onboard the Okeanos Explorer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0G68ORc8uQ With 95% of the ocean floor unexplored, the deep sea is Earth’s last frontier. Its pioneers are scientists leveraging the latest technology to cast light on the massive and incomprehensibly dark environment that extends more than 35,000 feet down. Until recently, this world was known only to our planet’s most unearthly species. This is the story of our largest biome—and the people devoting themselves to understanding it and saving it for future generations. 40 years ago we discovered hydrothermal vents, which act as Earth's plumbing system, transporting chemicals and extreme heat from the molten core of our planet, helping to regulate the chemical makeup of the oceans. But this seemingly toxic environment is still home to life. Organisms that don’t need photosynthesis to survive can live down here. And with most of the seafloor left to explore, many species remain undiscovered. Studying these unlikely ecosystems can teach us about the earliest stages of life’s evolution here on Earth, and about the possibility of life on other planets. That’s why NASA is working with oceanographers to help plan the mission to explore Jupiter's ice-covered moon, Europa. And because these vents form in active volcanic zones, they also help us better understand how landforms and moves over time. Plus, the sludge that’s constantly spewing from the vents contains some of the most valuable metals known to man. [Guardian video journalist] “In the deep ocean, where the water is as dark as ink, lie riches that no treasure hunters have managed to retrieve. They are deposits of precious minerals, from cobalt to gold, that have tantalized miners and nations for decades...” In 2019, a Canadian company will make the first-ever attempt at extracting these minerals. Using the latest technologies and massive, custom designed vehicles, it aims to bring up $1.5 billion worth of metals from a single site 25km off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Nautilus says it will minimize environmental damage by using infrared cameras and sonar to pinpoint the exact location of ore deposits, allowing it to shred less of the ocean floor. But environmentalists aren’t buying it. Preserving a sensitive ecosystem 8,000 feet underwater from the impact of mining is just not that simple. Unfortunately, we may not have much choice. There’s growing demand for these metals, but dwindling supplies of them on land. Cobalt — for instance — is used in jet engines, lithium-ion batteries, and the computer or smartphone you’re watching this video on—and the machines we made it on. But this age-old clash between miners and environment is really just one chapter in a much larger story of technology development—innovations aimed at maintaining the delicate balance of the increasingly threatened ocean ecosystem. One such tool is the EK80 broadband acoustic echo sounder. It uses a range of frequencies to paint a much more comprehensive picture of the amount and types of species living in a selected area of water.