Arctic Ocean Survey May Reveal Lost World

core plexus writes " A new survey of the depths of the ice-capped Arctic Ocean as reported at Reuters, BBC, and others, could reveal a lost world of living fossils and exotic new species from jellyfish to giant squid, scientists said on Thursday. They speculated that Arctic waters might hide creatures known only from fossils, such as trilobites that flourished 300 million years ago. The international scheme will include probing a 12,470-foot abyss off Canada described by project leaders as the "world's oldest sea water -- a vast, still pool unstirred for millennia, walled by steep ridges and lidded with ice." Bring on the "Jurassic Park" references."

Comments

ah the ocean

[spacerodent]

as an ocean engineer I feel compelled to point out that exploring the depths of the ocean is an assload harder than exploring space. Accordingly we've explored far less of it than space. Technologies are advancing but most of them are directed towards making existing technologies more efficient. We really don't have any improvments for reaching really deep areas and are still using technology pioneered in the 70s.

Re:ah the ocean

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the degree to which we have probed space with light and radio telescopes FAR exceeds that of the world's oceans. A vaccuum allows most forms of energy to travel through it, while water does a great job of attenuating most EM radiation, leaving sound to be the primary method of remote imaging.
Of course we could never have those beautiful global shaded relief seafloor images if it wasn't for satellite alimetry, so i guess its all related.

Living fossils

[niktesla]

This is the world's refrigerator where change has happened far more slowly than in other oceans

If its anything like my fridge, they'll find new life alright! But seriously, I think its funny how many "living fossils" were discovered by accident. Examples: ratfish, coelacanth, wollemi pine, etc.

Re:The horrors of the deep

[orthogonal]

What if we awaken some age-old form of life that has been lying dormant in the Earth's seabeds for thousands of years, just waiting fot the perfect opportunity to leap out and assimilate us all?


You mean in the sunken city of R'lyeh?

A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings... It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence...

-- H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange æons, even death may die"

Re:The horrors of the deep

[macthulhu]

Right on.

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

30 million year old germ

[vijaya_chandra]

You can check this for info about some bacteria that survive in vacuum and some bacteria that have actually been declared "living" after 30 million years

The article says about spores,
"In terms of our computer analogy, a bacterial spore is like a handheld calculator that has repackaged itself into its original protective shipping carton and turned itself off."

I would love to have one such calculator

the deep is full of some strange stuff

[circletimessquare]

here are some pages pictures taken from norfanz, the last major survey of deep aquatic life

as reported here of course

those are some weird looking animals

Re:Jurrassic Park?

[Anonymous Coward]

You fail your course in eldritch lore at Arkham University.
The mountains of madness are in antarctica, and was home to Shoggoths (and the strange unnamed creatures which created them, and against which the Shoggoths rebelled).
Cthulhu, however, lies resting in R'lyeth, which is also somewhere on the southern part of the globe, so no risk of waking him with this little project.

Re:The Mirror Ocean from "Megalodon"

[prof_peabody]

Giant squid are quite common, perhaps you refer to Colossal Squid? They found a complete one last year, it was all over the news. Plus we keep finding sperm whales with scars from the colossal. They had interesting hooks on their tentacles that no other squid has, so evidence of attcks on whales is easy to identify.

Re:Cover Your Nose

[SEWilco]

I mentioned a geothermal energy source, so I'm not ruling it out. But it's quite a leap to get from the known extremophile bacteria and geothermal vent ecology to something which could be oxygenating the water for ancient creatures.

Particularly awkward are the millions of elapsed years, during which geothermal heat might have shut off or wandered away.

Re:The horrors of the deep

[NeoSkandranon]

beat ME to it as well =D

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Re:Must we?

[Eudial]

Until we taint it with our presence.

True,the modern bacteria we're going to bring will literarlly obliderate any life that exists in there.

Re:pandora's box?

[RebelWebmaster]

The plural form of virus is "viruses", not virii. Unless you're a 1337 hax0r, of course.

Re:The horrors of the deep

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Ia Ia Cthulu Fthagn!!

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:There is nothing down there

[Peaceful_Patriot]

That was the popular belief before they found entire thriving ecosystems living thousands of feet deep, deriving their energy from geothermal vents in the sea floor. No light, little or no oxygen, and yet these creatures get all they need from the chemical soup pouring from these vents.

I am not suggesting there are vents in this area, just that nature can surprise us.

"Life will find a way."

Re:Arctic climate change

[FlyingOrca]

True enough, but they don't *hunt* in open water. Less ice == less bears; you can see it happening in my old stomping grounds of Hudson Bay, where decreased ice cover is marginalizing the bear population.

(My folks are retired arctic zoologists, I grew up in the Canadian arctic, and the climate change scenarios aren't pretty. Not so coincidentally, their last expedition was SHEBA/JOIS, the first international scientific expedition to use the Louis St. Laurent as a platform.)