The 2024 published discovery that oxygen can be produced in complete darkness at the bottom of the deep sea has attracted significant global attention, being described as one of the most exciting recent findings in ocean science. This project, bringing together some of the key researchers of the original study, further investigates the paradigm-shifting phenomenon of dark oxygen production.

DORI’s overarching aim is to determine if and how dark oxygen production occurs around polymetallic nodules in Pacific Ocean regions beyond the Clarion Clipperton Zone and to explore the potential impacts of deep-sea mining on dark oxygen production and deep-sea ecosystem processes beyond the immediate mining area.