Key points
- DeepGreen’s Expedition 5A (Nov-Dec 2020) is the first campaign in its environmental impact assessment, run with research teams from Leeds University, the University of Gothenburg, the Natural History Museum and Florida State University.
- The campaign has four components: box core sampling of sediment and nodule bioturbation, multicore sampling of sediment biogeochemistry, hydrophone deployments to record ocean noise including whale and dolphin calls, and visual surveys of surface animals.
- Researchers are collecting environmental DNA and foraminiferal community samples, and measuring oxygen and alkalinity onboard, to quantify metals, nutrients and organic molecules and establish a baseline before test mining.
- The team has collected about 3,000 animal specimens from box cores, to be split between the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Gothenburg for identification and addition to scientific collections.
