Connecting Arctic Hot Springs and the Hunt for Life in the Solar System

Professor Eoghan P. Reeves (Department of Earth Science & Centre for Deep Sea Research, UiB) takes us on a dive into the science and technology behind the discovery and exploration of one of Earth’s most spectacular deep-sea ecosystems – the remote Aurora hydrothermal vents, 4km deep beneath the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. Footage of these spectacular ‘black smokers’ taken during the 2021 expedition became a part of the Netflix ‘Our Oceans’ series, narrated by Barack Obama. 

Located on Gakkel Ridge – Earth’s last truly unexplored seafloor mountain range – Aurora was as technically challenging to sample as landing on the moon. Our first scientific findings now clearly show this is not just another hot spring, however, its chemistry has profound implications for the potential to sustain life in oceans cut off from sunlight by permanent sea ice.   

Join us for an evening of science, stories, and discussion at the cutting edge intersection of deep sea science and Solar System exploration.