DR DIVA AMON:The deep sea is absolutely the last unexplored frontier on our planet. The ocean floor is actually less well-mapped than the surface of Mars, Venus and the Moon.
DR DIVA AMON:So while we may think that the deep ocean is this alien, remote place' it is absolutely fundamental to us being here on planet Earth. And yet we've only explored about 1% of it. Which is just crazy because we're talking about our own planet here.
NARRATOR:The damage on the surface on the water caused by pollution is easy to see for scientists like Diva. But it's much harder to find out how healthy the deep sea is.
DR DIVA AMON:The deep sea is really the epitome of out of sight, out of mind. I think one of the saddest examples of our litter in the deep ocean is a plastic shopping bag was found at the bottom of the Marinara Trench, a place called Challenger Deep, which is over 10,000 metres down in the deep ocean, it's the deepest point on the planet.
DR DIVA AMON:And will probably be there for decades, if not centuries, if not millennia more.
NARRATOR:Diva's dives have found evidence of our junk almost everywhere.
DR DIVA AMON:One of my most recent expeditions to the Gulf of Mexico, we were exploring a sonar target which we thought was a shipwreck.
DR DIVA AMON:When we got closer we realised that it was actually a 40ft shipping container that had been lost at sea. And we found ourselves driving through a field of washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers; this is over a kilometre down in the Gulf of Mexico.
DR DIVA AMON:What kind of an impact are those metals that may be leaching out of that degrading container having on the life down there?
DR DIVA AMON:Those are the kinds of questions that we just can't answer yet because we still know so little about the deep ocean.
NARRATOR:But our rubbish is not the only man-made problem facing the deepest part of the sea.
DR DIVA AMON:This is a piece of a chimney, of a hydrothermal vent chimney. And you can see that this is pretty much a huge lump of metal. It has gold, silver, copper, iron, as well as a bunch of other metals that are running out on land. And as a result we're thinking about potentially mining these habitats.
NARRATOR:If we began to take metals from the deep sea because they're running out on land then it could have a big impact on some of the animals that use these vents as a home.
NARRATOR:These animals are part of the food chain, so by harming them we could also affect other animals and the balance of life in our seas.
DR DIVA AMON:If it's not done in a responsible way, we maybe could potentially irreparably alter our deep ocean before we fully understand it. And I think that would be a real loss for humanity. And so we really do feel like we're racing against time to learn as much as we need to to be able to protect and manage the deep ocean.
Video summary
Scientists now believe that there is not a single habitat on the planet that has not been affected by plastic, and that includes the deep ocean.
Marine Biologist, Diva Amon investigates the human impact of pollution in the deep sea and how deep sea mining is threatening to destroy valuable habitats.
This clip is from the 大象传媒 series, Blue Planet Live. Below are a few ideas to get you started with your class.
Teacher Notes
Sorting materials 鈥 are they where they should be?
The learners should list the items they see in the video that do not naturally occur in the sea.
They can then identify what they are made from and try to explain why there may be damage to the environment from them being there.
The learners could write posters or leaflets about responsible disposal of materials.
What happens if we mine the seas?
The learners should start to think about where we get materials from.
If the home of the living things are taken away (the hydrothermal vents) what will happen to them?
There are opportunities for them to write short sentences explaining why the habitats should not be destroyed.
What is a healthy ocean?
The scientists talk about the ocean being healthy鈥 after considering what a healthy life is for themselves the learners should think about why the oceans they saw in the video did not seem healthy.
The learners should write persuasively about the potential pollution when plastics are discarded.
They could write about the journey of a plastic bottle thrown away to the bottom of the sea.
There is an opportunity to introduce the challenges of plastics in society.
Why are plastics a problem?
Learners should consider the properties of plastics that make them good for their uses 鈥 linking structure, purpose and function.
They can then work in small groups to suggest alternatives to plastic options for particular purposes and selecting appropriate materials.
The learners can be introduced to the ideas of plastics in the food chains and by starting to look at what happens if a small fish eats plastics how these move up the food chain and ultimately could be consumed by humans.
Why is removing hydrothermal vents a problem?
The learners should be able to evaluate the impact of loss of habitat in terms of the organisms living within and around them, the implications for the food chain and begin to explore potential lost.
To challenge the learners they can discuss why the metals from the washing machines are pollutants but the metals in the hydrothermal vents are not.
The 鈥楤ig鈥 Questions (with opportunities for extended writing and discussion)
Is it important to find out about what is happening in the deep ocean when it is so far away from us?
How do we persuade people about the problem of plastics?
There are undiscovered plants and animals on earth and in the sea. Should we be trying to make sure we don鈥檛 destroy them even if we don鈥檛 know what they are yet?
Suitable for teaching Science at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd level in Scotland.
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