Exploring the Blue Economy By Michelle Ponto Only recently have scientists been able to research the deep sea and uncover some of the mysteries that lie in its depths. Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover, Harvey Smith professor of biological oceanography and chair of the Division of Marine Science and Conservation at Duke University, is a scientist who has gone where few have gone before in the deep sea. "I'm an explorer at heart. I look at a map and think: where have we not been?" said Van Dover during a 2017 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) On-Air interview at KAUST in January. Van Dover describes herself as a deep-sea ecologist, explorer, submarine pilot and author. Her work has taken her across all the world’s oceans to depths up to 4,000 meters. “I grew up not far from the coast, and I would see the animals like crabs that were different from me,” she said. “I wanted to know why they had all those legs and how they used all those different shaped appendages. As I got older, I kept thinking about deeper water and what creatures were out there.”
From the darkness into the springs Just a few decades ago, the deep ocean was still an unexplored mystery. Researchers believed the seafloor was all the same: dark, cold and uninhabited. But, with new technology, scientists like Van Dover found there is a whole new world in the depths. “They discovered hot springs on the seafloor that could be the size of a football field, an auditorium or a small classroom,” Van Dover said. “They are little islands and surrounding them is a desert-like area.” The hot springs are found in all the oceans with a seafloor spreading system. In order for a hot spring to exist, you need a combination of magma and seawater. In the areas where the ocean floor is spreading (such as at the mid-ocean ridges), the molten magna rises and superheats the cold ocean water around it, producing the hot springs.
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The hot springs are similar to an oasis in the desert, with Van Dover noting she has found many new species living in them, and each species has different adaptations to survive. “Many live in extreme environments, and in some cases in noxious chemicals, but they have worked out physiologies to prevent them from being killed by the toxic environments they live in,” she explained. “You have to be a detective to figure out what they are doing down there.”
In the deep sea, we think of the Blue Economy as trying to develop industries in water that is 4,000 or 5,000 meters deep. The principle interest right now is the minerals and the metals.” -C indy Lee Van Dover, Harvey Smith professor of biological oceanography and chair of the Division of Marine Science and Conservation at Duke University
In her book "The Octopus's Garden: Hydrothermal Vents and Other Mysteries of the Deep Sea," she talks about the mysteries of the deep sea and some of her discoveries. One of her favorite creatures is the giant tube worm. “Some people think they are ugly, but I can’t understand this. I think they are the most beautiful animals in the world,” she said. “Tube worms live in hot springs and have an exquisite design. They can be as tall as me and quite big around. The creatures have no mouth and no digestive system. They live in close proximity to bacteria and are feeding off of them.”