CEBIMário: Deep oceanic regions of Costa Rica

Local: Canal do CEBIMar no YouTube, link: https://youtu.be/fvmmymS8DTo

Palestrante: Jorge Cortes (Universidad de Costa Rica)

Organizador: Juan Pablo Quimbayo (CEBIMar/USP)

Resumo: The deep regions of the oceans are generally defined as deeper than 200 m, due to the change in slope, biodiversity and physical-chemical processes at and beyond the edge of the continental shelf. These are the least known regions of our planet. In this presentation we will take a trip to some of those deep regions of Costa Rica, a small country of 51,100 km2, but with a marine area more than 11 times larger and almost 2/3 of the ~590,000 km2 below 2,000 m depth (31% is between 3,000 and 3,500 m and the deepest point around 4,900 m). The marine area of ​​Costa Rica includes 815 km of the Coco Submarine Volcanic Mountain Range, different types of seamounts, submerged plateaus, methane seeps, and extensive abyssal plains. Associated with all these environments is a rich biodiversity that we are just beginning to discover. Deep environments are not exempt from impacts by human activity and it is important that Costa Rica begin to protect them. This journey to the bottom of the sea will take us to a small area of the world oceans but in some ways it represents how little we know, the ecological fragility, the importance to humanity, and the need to protect and conserve the deep regions of our planet.