The capabilities and limitations of ship-based technologies in understanding deep-sea ocean ecosystems: Paving the way for robots

Technological improvements have significantly shifted our fundamental knowledge of the ocean, particularly the deep sea. However, the lack of cost-effectiveness and accessibility in technologies remains a limiting factor in our scientific understanding of the deep ocean. Research vessels have traditionally served as the primary platforms for ocean observations, particularly deep-sea ecosystems. These vessels are equipped to deploy various instruments, including autonomous and tethered robots, to observe biological, chemical, and physical components of the deep ocean.

Despite the progress made, traditional and contemporary tools still suffer from several limitations. While these tools have enhanced our understanding, more precise mapping of small-scale topography and its role in creating ecological heterogeneity has exposed significant geographical and knowledge gaps. The geographic scope of large-scale research is primarily restricted to the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, leading to the undersampling of other regions of the world’s ocean. Although current deep-sea robots enable finer-scale observations, they have limited flexibility, autonomy, and operational depth. Deep-sea operations have prohibitively high-cost barriers, in part due to the high cost for procurement for instrumentation and deployment (i.e., vessel time). Despite over 200 years of oceanographic research, several key interdisciplinary questions about the deep-sea remain unresolved: (1) How many organisms live in the ocean? (2) Who they are? (3) What ecosystem services do they provide? (4) How do the ocean’s various components interact?

For more accurate and comprehensive observations of the ocean, we will build off the momentum for low-cost alternatives to deep-sea instrumentation for regular ocean sampling by proposing a technological roadmap. This includes developing a roadmap with initiatives such as "Shipboard Technology Excellence Procedures" and tech-based decision guides tailored to the available equipment, and a repository of all associated standard operating procedures. We also propose concrete actions to improve capacity building across institutions and nations through FAIR collaborations. For instance, establishing local groups to coordinate efforts and train members, alongside a global organizing body, could facilitate the tracking of samples, projects, and personnel to streamline sampling and analysis. Finally, we outline a series of actions aimed at bridging the gaps between science, policy, and society to ensure the benefits of deep-sea research extend beyond the scientific community.