Project lifts the veil on life in the ocean's twilight zone

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 361; no. 6404; p. 738
• Main Author: Kintisch, Eli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 24-08-2018
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.361.6404.738

New initiative aims to document midwater biodiversity.
Between 200 and 1000 meters below the ocean surface lies the twilight zone, a mysterious, dark, poorly studied part of the ocean that teems with sea life. This week, a new program to study this region, also called the midwater, kicked off with a 10-day research expedition to the North Atlantic Ocean. The centerpiece of the 6-year, $35 million Ocean Twilight Zone project is a 5-meter sled called Deep-See, which holds advanced acoustic sensors and cameras. The inaugural dives of the device revealed a surprising density of organisms from the surface down to 1400 meters below; in the past, scientists have seen organisms clustered at a single band of depth.