Isis is recovered after another deep sea mission

In recent weeks I've become accustomed to live images of the deep ocean. I now realise that if we lived on the seafloor we would probably know a lot more about it. It's easier to learn about things we can see and touch – and so not surprising that we've learnt more about our close surroundings than the farther horizons of our planet and solar system.To fill the gaps in understanding, scientists often explore parts of our world that are difficult to reach like our polar wildernesses. Oceanographic scientists inherently face a similar challenge – examining our remote oceans to learn how the planet functions. But there is a mismatch in our understanding of ocean chemistry for instance, between its surface and deep waters, which I think reflects the obscurity of deep waters from our view.Expeditions like these, which bring cameras to the unseen ocean floor, remind me just how different our understanding of oceanography would be if we had begun ocean exploration from the bottom, up.The seafloor, viewed from the remotely operated vehicle, is an endless field of chemical interaction between minerals and seawater that is rich with life – somewhat reminiscent of the thin line between land and atmosphere that we call home.From the bottom of the ocean, the view up is often bleak. Ascend just a few metres and all that you're likely to see is vast and empty, but there is undoubtedly more here than meets the eye, we just don't know it yet.Seawater chemistry in the surface ocean is anything but even or empty. In fact, there is a complex ecosystem in the surface layer of the ocean nourished by dissolved nutrients, metals and gases that is responsible for pumping carbon between geologic and atmospheric realms, and is also sensitive to subtle changes in seawater composition. We know this because we've looked there many times, in many parts of the world, and made countless measurements, to build a detailed knowledge of chemical interactions in different areas.Our understanding of bottom water chemistry however, and its impact on global ocean processes, such as carbon cycling, nutrient supply and transport, is naive compared to the surface oceans due to the scarcity of measurements near the seafloor.A mismatch in surface and deep ocean observations is anticipated given the difficulty of sampling close to the seafloor from far above, but precision instruments likeare pioneering new measurements of deep water and sediments; thepiloting team has been operating 24 hours a day, diligently sampling the seafloor in a way that conventional methods never could.It is an exciting time to be an oceanographer - a step change in understanding ocean chemistry will come from the partnership of science and technology in deep-sea research. From what I have seen in recent weeks, theteam of the National Oceanography Centre has exemplified the power of this cooperation with scientists aboard the RRS. Long may this partnership continue!By Will Homoky