For a month, an international team of scientists explored the Arctic seabed off the coast of Norway, using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to survey seamounts and hydrothermal vents at depths of up to 3,000 metres. Their goal: to document the rare and fragile marine life that could be threatened by Norway's plans to mine the seabed for critical minerals.
The expedition, organised by Greenpeace and livestreamed to more than 450,000 viewers, captured footage of a rare Dumbo octopus—which became the mission's mascot—and collected over 400 sponge samples. Several species may be new to science, researchers said.
Slow Recovery in a Changing Ocean
Anne Helene Tandberg, a researcher at the University of Bergen who took part in the expedition, emphasised that deep-sea ecosystems are particularly slow to recover from disturbances. "Very many of the species are long-lived and don't produce very many offspring, so if something happens, they have very little [capacity for] restitution," she said.
Tandberg added that climate change compounds the problem. Many deep-sea invertebrates rely on cold, stable water and external skeletons built from calcium, both of which are affected as oceans warm and acidify. "The deep sea, even though it's far away from us, is already now suffering a lot of problems," she noted.
The area surveyed was opened for deep-sea mining by the Norwegian government in 2024, but exploration has been paused until at least 2029 following objections from environmental groups, scientists, fishing communities, and opposition parties in Norway. The debate mirrors broader tensions across Europe, where the EU's push for green technologies has increased demand for minerals like cobalt and nickel—resources that some argue could be extracted from the seabed.
Supporters of deep-sea mining, including some governments and mining companies, argue that the seabed holds reserves of critical minerals needed for batteries, electric vehicles, and other green technologies, and that these reserves could ease pressure on land-based supply chains. Norway has cited this rationale in pursuing its own domestic seabed resources.
Critics, including marine scientists and conservation groups, counter that the environmental risks are poorly understood and potentially irreversible, and that sufficient mineral reserves still exist on land. There are calls for a moratorium until the impacts are better known. Negotiations over international mining rules, led by the UN's International Seabed Authority, are still ongoing.
For the scientists behind the Arctic expedition, the priority is to gather evidence before any decision is made. Their samples and footage will be analysed in the coming months, with findings expected to feed into proposals for marine protected areas in Norwegian waters. The expedition's work comes as marine heatwaves elsewhere in Europe highlight the broader pressures on ocean ecosystems.
As the debate over seabed mining intensifies, the Arctic remains a critical frontier—both for its mineral wealth and for the fragile life that calls it home.
