Product Description

The Science Channel presents three new, original one-hour specials following marine scientists as they pursue cutting edge science and technology in the deep frontier. It is the most hostile, alien place on Earth. It endures incredible pressures, perpetual darkness, extreme cold. The place is the abyssal depths of our oceans and the seafloor below. Many believe that we know more about the surface of the moon than the bottoms of our oceans. For centuries it was thought that the ocean depths was a barren desert, devoid of all life. But in recent decades, deep-sea technology has enabled marine scientists to explore the abyss and they've made surprising finds. Not only does a variety of life thrive in the depths, but along the tectonic fault lines that crisscross the ocean floor are sites of countless hydrothermal vents spewing out hot sulphuric gases and other energy rich chemicals. In the late 70's it was discovered that organisms near these deep-sea vents, many new to science, were living by an entirely different system. Instead of using the sun to produce energy through photosynthesis, deep-sea bacteria, in the absence of all sunlight were using chemosynthesis to convert energy from the hot chemicals (as high as 400-degrees C) pouring out of the earth. It was the first time scientists documented life sustained by energy from earth, not the sun.