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Research explores Mariana Trench’s Sirena Deep
The Schmidt Ocean Institute is conducting a monthlong research in the Mariana Trench at depths close to 11,000 meters. The Exploring the Mariana Trench expedition runs from Nov. 9 to Dec. 9, and aims to shed light on the biological and geological processes of the ocean floor.
According to the institute, landers or “underwater elevators” will be deployed in the trench’s Sirena Deep near Guam to reach these depths, technically called the hadal zone. Landers are mechanical platforms used for carrying instruments, scientific samples, imagery, and measurements, for example, from the surface to the bottom of the ocean.
Jeff Drazen, a deep-sea fish expert from University of Hawaii at Manoa, is the expedition’s chief scientist, and Patricia Fryer, a geologist from UH, is co-chief scientist, according to the institute.
The research aims to answer questions about animals that live in these depths. From samples, scientists will study the biochemical adaptations that these animals have taken to survive the extreme pressures of the trench.
Particularly, according to the institute, they will examine whether these animals have “special compounds to protect proteins in their cells from folding improperly” under the hadal zone’s crushing water pressure.
These studies, according to the institute, could help with treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, which involves problems with protein folding in the brain. Researchers are also on the lookout for other compounds yet undiscovered by science.
Research will also measure oxygen consumption rates among sediment dwellers. According to the institute, these rates will help measure the activity and number of worms and small organisms there. This can be compared to location and sediment date to find patterns in how the animals are distributed.
The research will also equip a lander with a rock grabber to collect samples to study the area’s geology, according to the institute.
The expedition is part of the Hadal Ecoystems Studies program. It includes researchers from Whitman College, New Zealand’s University of Aberdeen, and the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council and National Oceanography Centre.
