Cold-water corals (also known as deep-sea corals) form reef structures in continental margins and seamounts from polar to equatorial latitudes. Their global distribution makes them more widespread than shallow-water tropical coral reefs. Depending on species, their depth ranges from 40 m in the Arctic to over 3,000 m in seamount chains. They build habitat structures, are biodiversity hotspots, accelerate nutrient cycling, alter current flow, and sequester carbon.
But we have not mapped all the locations and the extent of these unique ecosystems, due to the limited funding and resources (submersibles, and robotic solutions) allocated to ocean exploration. This lack of knowledge hinders our ability to fully understand the impact of cold-water coral ecosystems on ocean biology, fisheries, and Blue Carbon. It is an information gap we cannot ignore given ongoing pollution, deep-sea fishing, offshore wind energy infrastructure, the potential of deep-sea mining, and the climate crisis.
Here, I explain briefly the critical role of cold-water coral ecosystems and how the submersible and ocean robotics community can leverage resources so that every dive becomes a science dive to advance the mapping, conservation, and restoration of these unique ocean ecosystems.
