The Ocean Floor

The ocean floor, which makes up 71 percent of the Earth’s solid surface, lies an average of 3,700 meters beneath the ocean surface. The difficulties related to accessibility necessitate ship expeditions and the use of highly specialized underwater equipment for its exploration. As yet, only a small fraction of the ocean floor has been scientifically investigated, but it is already known that this supposedly passive environment is an important interface with a wide range of functions that impact the entire Earth system. Geological, physical, biological and chemical processes interact at and within the ocean floor, thus influencing the climate system, the global carbon cycle, and biological productivity in the world ocean. We still know too little about ocean-floor processes to compile detailed global mass budgets.

The Cluster of Excellence ›The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface‹ aims to quantify exchange processes at this significant boundary layer and their roles in the Earth system. The associated tasks demand the use of novel technologies for ocean-floor observation and sampling, highly sensitive analytical methods, and an expanded application of numerical models. Because of their scientific and technological complexity, the goals listed below can only be achieved through interdisciplinary research.