Humans still haven't seen 99.999% of the deep seafloor: Science Advance

Apparently, not even 0.001 percent of the deep sea area is known. This is the result of US researchers who evaluated about 44,000 dives. Like British nature filmmaker David Attenborough, they warn against destroying the still unknown ecosystems of the seas.

Although the deep sea accounts for more than 60 percent of the Earth's surface, it is largely unexplored. Experts warn: Whole regions could be destroyed before anyone has seen them.

As one moves away from the coast, the seabed becomes deeper and deeper. Beyond 200 to 300 m, the domain of the most abyssal ocean opens up, a little explored but wonderful place, which keeps an unparalleled biodiversity. The seabed near the coast forms what is called the continental shelf. It has a width ranging from a few kilometers to a few hundred kilometers. As we get away, the bottom descends abruptly: it is the “continental slope”, often c…

Despite the coverage of 66% of the Earth's surface, the deep ocean remains largely unexplored, revealing "failures and parity in ocean exploration and in understanding biodiversity".

For many decades, scientists have also been researching the ocean, but they have not yet come very far, as a recent analysis shows.

Humans Have Never Seen 99.999% of the Seafloor, Study Finds, as Trump Greenlights Deep-Sea Mining

Researchers say our understanding of Earth’s largest biome is based on a tiny, unrepresentative sample dominated by just a few countries.