New center for deep sea research opened at Bremen University!

New center for deep sea research opened at Bremen University!

On March 8, 2025, the new Center for Deep Sea Research (ZfT) was officially opened at the University of Bremen. With an area of ​​4,000 square meters, the ZfT is intended to advance the interdisciplinary investigation of deep-sea processes. The focus of the research includes important topics such as climate change, sea level rise and the generation of energy from the sea. A key goal is to gain a clear understanding of ocean processes in order to better understand the effects of environmental change.

The center's financing is secured by significant funds from the state of Bremen and the federal government. The ZfT promotes collaboration between various specialist groups and is part of MARUM, the largest university marine science institution in Germany. Here, the biological, chemical, geological and physical processes in the ocean are examined in order to better understand the role of the oceans and the deep sea in the climate and the carbon cycle.

Modern equipment for innovative research

The newly built center not only contains office and seminar rooms, but also laboratories and an equipment hall. A special cooling hall is used to expand the core storage facility, which is part of the international deep-sea drilling program. The center's design comes from the Bremen architectural firm Haslob, Kruse and Partner.

An important piece of equipment is the remote-controlled diving robot MARUM-QUEST 5000, which can be used at depths of up to 5,000 meters. The first major use of the diving robot took place on the METEOR expedition M210. This technology aims to develop technological innovations and sustainable solutions to challenges related to ocean and climate issues.

Research in the deep sea

The deep sea holds many secrets and is an area traditionally explored using manned submersibles. Future explorations will increasingly rely on unmanned, remotely controlled submersibles and diving robots. These allow researchers to remain on the surface while collecting valuable data from deep. Diving robots are flexible and can stay underwater for several hours.

An outstanding example of unmanned submersibles is the Japanese research submersible “Kaiko”, which has been unsurpassed with a depth record of 11,034 meters in the Mariana Trench since 1995. “Kaiko” took samples from the ocean floor and brought them back to the mother ship. The technical advances in these diving robots offer numerous possibilities, such as inspecting gas pipelines or deploying measurement sensors in the deepest regions of the ocean.

Scientists' curiosity is limitless, and the diverse communities of life in the ocean, especially at hydrothermal vents such as those in the east of the China Sea, offer exciting starting points for research. At these depths exist organisms that have a chemosynthetic lifestyle and can thrive in extreme conditions.

The new center for deep sea research at the University of Bremen promises to make a significant contribution to research into the oceans, which are of increasing importance in times of climate change. uni-bremen.de reports that the ZfT will act as a hub for interdisciplinary research projects. Furthermore, illuminated marum.de the impressive technological advances in the field of deep sea research, while planet-wissen.de provides a broader context to the history and development of deep-sea exploration.