Searching for New Species in the South Sandwich Islands

The closest human beings to the Research Vessel Falkor (too) during this expedition might be orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station. The South Sandwich Islands is one of the most remote island chains in the world. It is a volcanic archipelago created by the South American Plate subducting beneath the South Sandwich Plate. Situated between the Southern and Atlantic Oceans, these islands are part of a rich mosaic of tectonic forces that create geologic features such as hadal zone trenches, underwater volcanoes, and spreading centers. These features facilitate high levels of endemism, supporting species found nowhere else.

This Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census Flagship Expedition will be led by Dr. Michelle Taylor, president of the Deep-Sea Biology Society and Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex; her team will locate and describe new species. Dr. Jenny Gales will lead GoSouth, a collaboration between the University of Plymouth, GEOMAR, and the British Antarctic Survey; her team will survey volcanic flanks with ROV SuBastian to determine the impacts of volcanism and earthquake activity on marine ecosystems. The science teams will also seek out deep-sea volcanoes and venture into the 8000-meter-deep South Sandwich Trench, the most geographically isolated and coldest trench on Earth.

Into the Southern Ocean

Research and conservation in the Southern Ocean has never been more urgent. The region is home to some of the planet’s most bio-abundant marine ecosystems, including 10,000 endemic species. It occupies a quarter of the global ocean surface and plays an outsized role in regulating the Earth’s climate systems, absorbing 40% of anthropogenic carbon emissions and 72% of excess heat in the atmosphere yearly. The Southern Ocean’s biological systems largely enable this remarkable climate regulation. However, only 5% of the Southern Ocean is protected, and much of it remains understudied.

The Antarctic Peninsula, which borders the western edge of the Weddell Sea, has undergone some of the most rapid warming of any area on Earth, driving a massive loss of ice on land and at sea. This loss of ice coverage is reshaping the Weddell Sea’s marine communities by opening up newly ice-free areas for species to colonize and inhabit. However, scientific understanding of how Antarctic marine life is responding to this unprecedented warming is minimal.