Arctic Ocean survey to scan lost world

A new survey of the depths of the Arctic Ocean could reveal a lost world of living fossils and new species from jellyfish to giant squid.

Arctic waters might hide creatures known only from fossils, such as trilobites that flourished 300 million years ago.

More southerly species may invade Arctic waters if the polar icecap melts while increased shipping could accidentally introduce new creatures to the region in ballast water and disrupt the ecology.

The Canada Basin is a mystery because it is cut off from deep waters in the Pacific by the 210-ft deep Bering Strait and from currents from the more distant North Atlantic by 4,200-ft deep ridges and straits.

The international project will include probing a 12,470-foot abyss off Canada described by project leaders as the “world’s oldest sea water, a vast, still pool unstirred for millennia, walled by steep ridges and lidded with ice.”

Scientists plan to use robot submarines and sonar to track down life in the Arctic Ocean where many species may be at risk from global warming.

The research is part of a $1 billion, 10-year global Census of Marine Life funded by governments, companies and private donors.