Exploring the Awesome Depths of the Ocean

In this 2024 conversation with Justine Willis Toms, Susan Casey, a premiere chronicler of the aquatic world, highlights the complexity and ecological importance of the ocean's depths as she shares her personal and historical perspectives on exploring its mysteries. She points out that we are oddly unacquainted with its depths and importance, which make up more than 70% of Earth’s surface, notwithstanding its depth. She also reports on diving to the pulsing night-club-like life of the Twilight Zone (600-3300 feet) that is filled with bioluminescent creatures that sparkle and glow. Despite these delights, Casey points to the terrestrial bias and the lack of funding for ocean exploration compared to space. There is a need for a better understanding of the ocean's role in regulating the planet's chemistry before engaging in any large-scale mining, which could have severe consequences for the ocean's ecosystem.

Susan Casey is the author of several books including: 

• Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Survival and Obsession Among American’s Great White Sharks (Henry Holt 2005)
• The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean (Doubleday 2010)
• Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins (Anchor 2016)
• Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean (Doubleday 2023)

Interview Date: 8/5/2024       Tags: Susan Casey, ocean, bathysphere, bathyscaphe, submersibles, ocean depths, twilight zone, William Beebe, Otis Barton, Mariana Trench, Wyville Thompson, John Murray, deep sea mining, bottom trawling, ghost nets, Patrick Lahey, Victor Vescovo, Tonga Trench, hydrothermal vents, Ecology/Nature/Environment, History, Science, Technology, Travel