Svalbard, in the middle of the Arctic, already made headlines in 2008 when the vegetable Noah's Ark was inaugurated there, a place where seeds from different regions of the world are preserved.
In an impassable vault, worthy of a scientific fiction story, they are protected from environmental catastrophes or armed conflicts.
Under these Arctic waters they found the amazing marine ecosystem. Photo: Franck Gazzola/UnderThePole/Rolex.
Now, an oceanic expedition, as part of the Under The Pole/Deep Life scientific explorations, investigated in waters near the frozen terrain of that archipelago, in Norway, and discovered a region with an amazing ecosystem of marine animals.
It is the first "forest" of these species found in that area. For experts, it is strictly a MAF (Marine Animal Forest), a biotic set formed by organisms such as sponges, gorgonaceans, hard corals, briozcos and bivalves that form a cover similar to surface trees.
That is why it is known as marine animal forest. Unlike those on land, many of them still remain undiscovered. They are unexplored paradises.
The boat from where the diving was made. Photo: Franck Gazzola/UnderThePole/Rolex.
Due to their depth, they also have more stable conditions than in the open sea. That is, extensive refuges for underwater life could be created there.
Environmental wealth
The images, sent to Viva, are extraordinary: they reveal an environmental richness that flourishes between 30 and 200 meters deep, where there is little light.
It is a lost, twilight world where organisms that depend on natural luminosity, such as algae, do not survive.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognized these forests as vulnerable marine habitats because temperature variation, among other factors, especially harms them.
The aim of these explorations, which will continue until 2030, is to study the species and their behaviour, and develop strategies to, like seeds, preserve them.
The forest of marine animals, in full. Photo: Franck Gazzola/UnderThePole/Rolex.
Take care of them, for example, from the effects of climate change.
Sub-zero adventure
Deep-sea divers faced a challenge that tested human limits. Led by Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Périe-Bardout they worked in extreme cold conditions.
Ghislain is an engineer graduated from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Switzerland, and specializes in deep polar diving. Before devoting himself to diving, he was an amateur mountaineer. Explore the polar regions since 2006.
"Underwater forests behave like terrestrial forests: they harbor life. And they're vulnerable," Bardout said to define the region he was able to explore.
The surroundings of Svalbard, where the exploration was made. Photo: Franck Gazzola/UnderThePole/Rolex.
Biodiversity in the Arctic is one of the most threatened on Earth. That's because that region is warming faster than anywhere else.
In the last 40 years, the floating sea ice covering much of the Arctic Ocean has halved.
A breakthrough
The goal of the Under The Pole/Deep Life expedition is to find and explore these endangered marine forests, publicize their conditions, and find ways to keep them safe.
During the first week of dives, with the support of the Perpetual Planet/Rolex Initiative, which seeks to document marine animal forests in all the oceans of the planet, no sightings were achieved.
But in the last entrance they managed to find the first underwater forest, a wonder of nature at a depth of between 50 and 80 meters.
A hydroid captured in the forest of marine animals of the Arctic.
There they saw hydroids, animals related to jellyfish, and corals resembling bells, flowers and ferns.
This discovery represents a breakthrough in Arctic oceanography because the biodiversity deep in that area was always a mystery.
The divers were able to record the species that form and live in that forest and record environmental data such as temperature.
The information will be shared with an international consortium of scientists who will define the scope of this finding and how to use the data collected to promote the protection of the entire ecosystem. Work to make it less vulnerable.
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