For the first time, Greenpeace has led a unique deep sea expedition to the Arctic. Together with a team of expert scientists we explored the life and wonders of the Arctic deep sea – one of Earth’s least known wildernesses, and we were astonished by what we found!

Our many hours of divestreams from the Arctic seabed have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers. Together with the scientists we have had school classes calling in to the research ship asking questions to the scientists about the deep sea, and we have filmed over 100 hours of high-resolution video of these extraordinary ecosystems that will now be shared with the world.

The scientists onboard have had a particular focus on vulnerable and undescribed species in the area – and they will analyse all material and samples in detail after the expedition, but they already think that they have discovered several potential new species to science.

Dr. Paco Cárdenas, from Uppsala University, fixing subsamples of sponges with RNAlater, formol, Gluteraldeyde or ethanol. Greenpeace will gather scientific evidence of the diversity, distribution and connectivity of fauna in Arctic deep-sea ecosystems in the mining area - with particular focus on vulnerable, rare, endemic and undescribed species - in order to trigger international, regional and national conservation protocols.
Dr. Jenny Neuhaus and Dr. Anne-Nina Lörz from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research in Germany, sitting in front of the screens during the first divestream. Greenpeace will gather scientific evidence of the diversity, distribution and connectivity of fauna in Arctic deep-sea ecosystems in the mining area - with particular focus on vulnerable, rare, endemic and undescribed species - in order to trigger international, regional and national conservation protocols.

And even if we are of course super excited about new species, there is no doubt that the scientists also got very excited when they came across our expedition “mascot” – the dumbo octopus in real life

Having seen all the life and beauty of these ecosystems, that reminds us a lot of underwater biodiversity-rich meadows or coral reefs, makes it even more insane to start deep-sea mining in these ecosystems, which would be totally destroyed if the industry gets its way.

But the mining industry has not yet started to tear up the seabed, and we therefore have the unusual and real opportunity to stop an environmental disaster before it happens. We have stopped them before, and in Norway all exploration is halted until at least the end of 2029.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace will use the scientific evidence and new findings from the expedition to shine a light on these extraordinary ecosystems and call on leaders and policymakers to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and long-term protection of the Arctic deep sea.

It’s high time they listen to the science, and protect the deep sea!

Daniel Bengtsson is the Communications Lead on the Deep Arctic Expedition.

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Deep Arctic Expedition

Join Greenpeace and world-leading scientists as we explore the fascinating deep sea in the Arctic.

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