To date, 75 per cent of the ocean floor remains undiscovered, and a Cordova Bay resident is on a mission to help international organizations change that.
Since 2016, Tim Kearns has organized the international conference Ocean Floor Explore. This year, the two-day conference will be held at the Victoria Conference Centre, Oct. 26 to 29, bringing together over 100 leaders in blue investing, philanthropy, technology and exploration.
Kearns' goal is to bring awareness to the scope of untapped data, generate enthusiasm, and pioneer a new funding model for ocean discovery driven by philanthropic, corporate and private citizens investing.
"[It] could be potentially a multi-decadal effort, but it could be done in our lifetime if we had the right funding, the right technology and really the right motivation to go and do it," Kearns said.
When it comes to uncovering the ocean floor, Kearns said the technology and human resources exist, but funding remains the greatest barrier as governments shrink their investments globally. Part of this is due to areas of deep ocean falling outside territorial boundaries. "We also can't rely on governments to provide that funding," he said. "And so, we have an opportunity for corporations, for communities, for individual citizens to rise up and be part of this."
Filling the knowledge gap will support crucial projects and initiatives, like conservation efforts and understanding global weather systems.
"We like to say it's not a science mission; it's a human mission," Kearns said.
The ocean plays a critical role in climate and weather – its morphology can influence marine life and affect ocean temperatures, which impact how ocean currents circulate heat and nutrients. It can also put conservation efforts in a better position as industry looks to the ocean to exploit more resources.
There's also an opportunity for tsunami modelling. The ocean floor influences how far and fast tsunami waves travel, due to the ridges and valleys of the ocean floor and of our coastlines, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Outside of practicalities, it's a new frontier that many are excited to uncover. For Kearns, he "fell in love" when he took his first oceanography course in his 20s. "It's this sense of discovery that almost all humans have," he said. "We can't help but get excited about going somewhere that no one's ever been, or in this case, seeing something that no human has ever seen before."
Kearns estimates 200 companies are involved in the global initiative to map out the ocean floor. What he thinks is unique about Map the Gaps is that it's the only non-profit in the world – that he's aware of – trying to connect new funding sources to ocean floor missions.
To learn more about Kearns' mission, visit mapthegaps.org. Ocean Floor Explore is open to the public. Registration can be done at oceanfloorexplore.org. The cost is $100 for students, $250 for symposium full-access and $300 for full access that includes an evening social with a meal.
The event is cohosted by Kearns' non-profit, Map the Gaps, and the Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies.
