An international team of researchers has revealed the existence of a concealed and extraordinarily resilient deep-sea ecosystem buried beneath the Arctic Ocean's frigid waters, flourishing in absolute darkness at depths surpassing 2.5 miles and fundamentally reshaping scientific comprehension of life's adaptability in the planet's most inhospitable environments.

Under the leadership of Juliana Panieri from UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Jonathan T Copley from the University of Southampton, the expedition pinpointed the Freya Mounds along the Molloy Ridge in the Greenland Sea portion of the Arctic Ocean—the deepest known methane hydrate formations on record—where ice-like structures encapsulating methane, other hydrocarbons, and crude oil actively vent from the seafloor in a continuous geochemical process.

Detailed findings, published last month in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, describe towering cone-shaped hydrate mounds reaching up to six meters in diameter that emit persistent streams of gas bubbles, sustaining a vibrant chemosynthetic biosphere entirely independent of solar energy and instead powered by microbial oxidation of methane and sulfides.

Also Read: Matsya 6000 Deep-Sea Submarine Becomes Star Attraction At India Science Festival

Deploying the advanced remotely operated vehicle Aurora during a May 2024 cruise, the scientists documented more than 20 distinct species thriving in these extreme conditions, including extensive colonies of Sclerolinum tube worms, swarms of amphipods and vivid red caridean shrimp, alongside snails, polychaete worms, and assorted crustaceans, all adapted to perpetual darkness and temperatures hovering near freezing.

The detection of colossal methane plumes ascending over 3,300 meters—among the tallest gas flares ever observed—coupled with chemical signatures tracing hydrocarbons to ancient Miocene-era source rocks, underscores the discovery's far-reaching consequences for modeling global carbon fluxes, refining climate projections, and informing contentious international deliberations on the environmental risks of prospective deep-sea mining operations in the vulnerable Arctic region.

Also Read: Mumbai Police Arrest Man for Kidnapping Karnataka Businessman, Extorting Rs 2 Crore