Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

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<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768954364477cristian-palmer-XexawgzYOBc-unsplash_cropped_processed_by_imagy.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Underwater and lights in Canary Islands, Spain.<em> 📷༘ Cristian Palmer, Unsplash</em></span></span></span></div><p>PARIS, France — A team of scientists announced Tuesday they have developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean are producing &quot;dark oxygen.&quot;</p><p>If a previously unknown source of oxygen has always been lurking in Earth&#x27;s depths, it would represent a remarkable revelation that would call into question long-held assumptions about the origins of life on our planet.</p><p>But the deep-sea mining industry -- which is keen to extract precious metals from these potato-sized polymetallic nodules -- and some researchers have expressed doubts about the claim.</p><p>So British marine ecologist Andrew Sweetman, who led the 2024 research that revealed the possible existence of dark oxygen, is planning a new underwater expedition in the coming months.</p><p>At a press conference on Tuesday, Sweetman and his team unveiled two new landers capable of diving to a depth of 11 kilometers (seven miles) with the aim of finding out how the nodules could be creating oxygen.</p><p>Unlike previous missions, these landers will have sensors specifically designed to &quot;measure seafloor respiration&quot;, Sweetman explained.</p><p>They can withstand 1,200 times the pressure on Earth&#x27;s surface and more resemble space exploration equipment, a statement said.</p><p>The landers will be launched from a research ship in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast region between Hawaii and Mexico.</p><p>Mining companies have plans to start harvesting the nodules, which contain valuable metals used in electric car batteries and other tech.</p><p>The scientists believe that the nodules give off enough electric charge to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as electrolysis.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>UNDERWATER GOLD RUSH?  </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Sweetman also used the press conference to push back against criticism of his 2024 study.</p><p>Some researchers have suggested that the oxygen was not coming from the nodules, but instead were just air bubbles trapped in the measuring instruments.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ve used these instruments over the last 20 years and every time we&#x27;ve deployed them, we&#x27;ve never had bubbles,&quot; Sweetman said, adding that the team conducted tests to rule out such a possibility.</p><p>The debate comes as companies and nations battle over proposed rules regulating the new and potentially environmentally destructive deep-sea mining industry.</p><p>Sweetman&#x27;s 2024 study was partly funded by a Canadian deep-sea mining firm, The Metals Company, which has since sharply criticized his research.</p><p>&quot;If commercial mining goes ahead then there will be quite widespread impacts,&quot; Sweetman said, adding that &quot;these nodules are home to a variety of diverse fauna.&quot;</p><p>But the scientist emphasized it is &quot;not our intention&quot; to find something to stop deep-sea mining.</p><p>He instead wants to gather as much information as possible to &quot;minimize the impacts as much as possible&quot; if mining does go ahead.</p><p>Matthias Haeckel, a biogeochemist at Germany&#x27;s GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, told AFP that his own research did &quot;not show any hint towards oxygen production&quot; from the nodules.</p><p>But he said Sweetman will &quot;join our cruise at the end of this year, where we plan to compare our methods&quot;.</p><p>For the new research funded by the Japanese Nippon Foundation, Sweetman and his team plan to spend May on a research ship in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ll be able to confirm dark oxygen production within 24 to 48 hours after the landers come up,&quot; he said.</p><p>The world will probably not know the results until the ship returns in June -- and further experiments back on dry land could take months, Sweetman added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>.</p>

<p>A team of scientists announced Tuesday they have developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean are producing "dark oxygen."</p>

A team of scientists announced Tuesday they have developed new deep-sea landers specifically to test their contentious discovery that metallic rocks at the bottom of the ocean are producing "dark oxygen."

Scientists plan deep-sea expedition to probe 'dark oxygen'

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Scientists plan deep-sea expedition to probe 'dark oxygen'

Daniel Lawler,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 21, 2026 08:14 AM PHT

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Paris

France

science

environment

oceans

mining

Agence France-Presse

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