BBC News - Climate secrets of Marianas Trench probed

16 January 2011 Last updated at 19:15 ET

  By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News

The scientists used a hi-tech submersible to study the trench

The climate secrets of the deepest part of the ocean, the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, have been probed by scientists.

The international team used a submersible, designed to withstand immense pressures, to study the bottom of the 10.9km-deep underwater canyon.

Their early results reveal that ocean trenches are acting as carbon sinks. [...]

Full article at bbc.co.uk

Of course the bottom of the ocean is teeming with life, and of course it's in forms both recognizable and incomprehensible. It's the birthplace of life, if nature followed it's usual course in the early days. Hot, wet, and moist has been it would seem for recorded time anyway the optimal formula for supporting growth and evolution. It's a hostile environment to life *as we know it*, but it's a great example for why we shouldn't discount the possiblity of life on planets and in places we wouldn't expect all over the universe.

 

Posted via email from Peace Jaway