The deep sea has always fascinated me. It houses such a big diversity of amazing and beautiful creatures (some scary ones, too), and we have only seen a fraction of what is living down there. To me, it is kind of like a smaller, underwater, and finite version of the Universe. It remains one of the least explored regions on planet Earth because it is so difficult to explore the deepest depths of it. This is a very good thing because destroying what we cannot reach is harder. But even more importantly, I found some fascinating facts during my research: There are microbial communities in the deep sea, and these, in particular, play a very important role in global material cycles. Methane-eating bacteria, for example, are the reason why only a little Methane Hydrate reaches the water's surface. A much larger amount is consumed. As a result, only two to four percent of the Methane escaping from oceanic sources ends up in the atmosphere. The deep sea also stores and buffers Carbon Dioxide. From about 43,500 gigatons of carbon dioxide above the earth's surface, around 37,000 gigatons are currently stored in the deep sea. And it has absorbed a quarter of all the carbon human activities release. For comparison, the atmosphere contains just 590 gigatons of Carbon. So far, I have only thought about biodiversity in this context, but now I know: it is undeniable that the deep sea is essential for our climate, too, and we must do everything in our power to protect it!

Bene Rohlmann