One impact of the mission’s results was to reveal just how much we still don’t know. Nekton Mission I - Discovering the Rariphotic ZoneĪt the moment, that understanding is limited. The rariphotic zone was identified by examining the unique biological communities that congregate at those depths.Įach of the four ocean zones – altiphotic (0m to 40m), mesophotic (40m to 130m), rariphotic (130m to 300m) and bathyal (300m to 3,000m) – are characterised by these distinct groups of sea-life.įor the Nekton researchers, understanding the zones and their different inhabitants is vital for improving understanding of ocean biodiversity and patterns of life. There was a great deal beneath the waves to excite the Nekton team, but the most important discovery of all was the existence of a new zone in the ocean, dubbed the ‘rariphotic’ (or ‘rare light’) zone.įirst mentioned by Dr Carole Baldwin from the Smithsonian Institute in March 2018, and now confirmed by the Nekton mission, the rariphotic zone extends from 130m to 300m and is the fourth zone confirmed in the top 3,000m of the ocean. Highlights and achievements of their first venture into the deep ocean. Survey, the team and supporters take a moment to reflect on some of the Inaugural mission to be released as part of the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Now, nearly two years later, the results of the mission have been processed and the team has announced some striking finds.Īs work begins to pull together the scientific data from Nekton's In July 2016, Rogers and a team of marine scientists launched Nekton’s ‘Mission I’ to investigate the ocean around Bermuda, the Sargasso Sea and the northwest Atlantic.ĭuring the mission, dive teams, manned submarines and remote-controlled vehicles collected thousands of samples from the ocean’s surface down to 1,500 metres. Rogers is a co-founder of Nekton, an organisation exploring the depths of the ocean for the benefit of humankind. It’s a very humbling experience,’ he adds. ‘There’s always something novel to see and the landscapes are fantastical.
‘You almost pinch yourself and think you’re on some distant planet,’ explains Professor Alex Rogers as he reminisces about his dives into the deep ocean around Bermuda.įor him, every trip in the Triton submarine, whose clear dome provides an unprecedented view of the ocean’s inhabitants, is magical. A Nekton submarine descends into the AbyssĪ deep-sea mission in the ocean around Bermuda confirms the existence of a new oceanic zone
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