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\n By Euronews Earth\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 29\/05\/2026 – 16:34 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
Hidden deep beneath the Arctic is a unique pocket of international waters between Norway and Greenland where ancient sponges thrive and whales gather. <\/p>\n
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For the first time, the environmental organisation Greenpeace is conducting a deep-sea expedition to what it describes as one of Earth\u2019s least-known wildernesses \u2013 known as the \u2018Banana Hole\u2019.<\/p>\n
The scientists from various renowned research institutions say they are diving to provide scientific evidence to \u201censure this ancestral home remains safe for generations to come\u201d.<\/p>\n
Watch the video above to see inside their mission. <\/p>\n
What is the \u2018Banana Hole\u2019?<\/p>\n
The \u2018Banana Hole\u2019, deep in the Arctic High Seas, is home to ancient ecosystems and volcanic hot springs that act as a \u201cliving library\u201d of our planet\u2019s history. <\/p>\n
But this fragile ecosystem is under immediate threat, Greenpeace says: \u201cIndustrial mining companies want to strip the seafloor for minerals, which would permanently destroy ancient ecosystems and species before they are even discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The area of the expedition was opened for deep-sea mining<\/a> by the Norwegian government in 2024, but was halted last year after protests from environmental organisations, scientists and the green opposition parties in Norway.<\/p>\n Deep-sea mining can have devastating effects. During a five-year investigation<\/a>, researchers examined data from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, located between Hawaii and Mexico, that is currently being targeted due to its mineral-rich seabed<\/a>.<\/p>\n They found more than 4,000 animals living on the seafloor and tracked the area\u2019s biodiversity<\/a> two years before and two months after the mining machine recovered more than 3,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules.<\/p>\n They warned that the number of macrofaunal animals found in the tracks of the mining vehicles was reduced by a staggering 37 per cent compared to untouched areas. <\/p>\n These are organisms visible to the naked eye, such as worms, crustaceans, snails and clams. There was no impact on animal abundance in regions covered by the sediment plume from the machine. However, the team did find that the test caused a 32 per cent reduction in species richness (the number of different species in a particular area).<\/p>\n Inside the deep-sea expedition<\/p>\n The month-long mission that began earlier this month is focused on exploring Arctic<\/a> seamounts (underwater mountains) and hydrothermal vent fields \u2013 ecosystems so remote they remain largely a mystery to humanity. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are sailing into the planet\u2019s uncharted and unexplored territory and will probably find new species that haven\u2019t been described and named up to now,\u201d said Dr Paco C\u00e1rdenas, deep-sea sponge expert at the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, in a press release. <\/p>\n \u201cThese animals have survived for hundreds of millions of years, and we are connected to them in many ways. They are the chemical libraries of the ocean<\/a>, holding potential cures for diseases and have the important function of cleaning our oceans. <\/p>\n \u201cTo lose these species before we even understand them would be a tragedy of global proportions. It\u2019s essential that we protect them.\u201d <\/p>\n Greenpeace and the external scientists onboard are livestreaming<\/a> from depths down to 3000 metres until 30 May. <\/p>\n