Since humanity has ventured on the oceans, their immensity and their mysteries have defined researchers. If the shores and shallow waters have gradually delivered their secrets, the exploration of the abyss remains one of the most formidable scientific challenges. Under more than a thousand meters of water, in a world where light disappears and where pressure crushes any attempt at intrusion, human technologies are still struggling to unravel the depths. Despite decades of progress, almost all of these underwater territories remain unexplored, escaping eyes and knowledge.
The first dives started in the 1960s, with submersibles like Alvin. This legendary vehicle made it possible to discover in 1977 the hydrothermal sources of the ocean backbones, habitats of organisms living without light thanks to chemosynthesis. This major advance has changed our understanding of marine life and fed many hypotheses on the origin of life on earth.
However, despite several decades of effort and 43,681 dives listed since 1958, the part of the seabed actually observed remains derisory. The researchers of the Ocean Discovery League, led by Katy Croff Bell, estimated that the area actually visualized by vehicles equipped with cameras represents only 0.001% of the total.
The exploration of abyss remains marginal today
This reality was confirmed by Time, who relayed the same striking statistics: barely a tiny fraction of the ocean floor was seen directly. The majority of observations are concentrated in the coastal areas of the United States, Japan and New Zealand. These three countries alone total 65% of the recorded dives.
The extremely high cost, the logistical complexity and the dangerousness of dives at great depth explain this situation largely. As the New York Post recalled, only a few nations currently have the technical means to effectively explore abyss. India, for example, as well as most African countries, remain largely absent from this scientific conquest.
The concentration of efforts on specific sites accentuates the problem of geographic distribution. For example, the researchers carried out 3,530 dives in the underwater canyon of Monterey, off California, while they never explored the 9029 other canyons identified. This imbalance distorts the global understanding of benthic ecosystems.
Lusts and threats: the risk of premature exploitation
Beyond the scientific challenge, the exploration of abyss raises major ethical and environmental issues. The deep ocean plays an essential role in the regulation of the global climate, by absorbing almost 90% of the excess heat and around 30% of the CO₂ issued by human activities, as BGR points out. Without this buffer capacity, life on earth would be threatened with extreme temperatures.
However, the temptation to exploit these virgin areas is intensifying. In 2025, NPR recalled that the United States took steps to accelerate the authorization of mining in deep waters, in particular to recover strategic metals. This perspective arouses great concern among the scientific community, which alerts the irreversible risks for ecosystems still largely unknown.
Faced with this emergency, 32 countries have required a moratorium on the mining of large funds as long as more complete environmental studies are carried out. Katy Croff Bell insists on the need to have a robust knowledge base before any industrial action: “What we do not want is to cause irreversible damage to the abyss”, she warns.
