This summer, scientists were drilling at a deep depth below the Atlantic Ocean, off the northeast coast of the US, and discovered a huge, mysterious freshwater tank -their discovery can have a significant impact on a world that faces a world.

Freshwater under the Atlantic has been known for decades, but it has remained almost unexplored. In the 1960s and 1970s, scientific missions and companies that drill in the ocean for pores such as oil, sometimes falling on fresh water, CNN notes.

Then, in 2019, scientists from the Oceanographic Institute of Woods Hole and the University of Columbia announced a “stunning discovery”.

Using electromagnetic waves, they had mapped a giant freshwater area under the ocean, extending along the coast from Massachusetts to New Jersey, and possibly even further.

“It seems to be the biggest formation of this kind that has been found to date in the world,” scientists said in a statement at that time.

Important questions

This raised important questions: How was it there? How old is water? Replenished? And, most importantly: Could coastal aquifers like him be a new source of freshwater for a thirsty world? The huge tank off the coast of the US is just one of the many that is believed to be hidden under the oceans on the planet.

A team of international scientists, participating in a program called Expedition 501, has decided to look for answers -which meant to drill into the aquifer.

In May, they sailed from the Bridgeort of Connecticut with a ship equipped with a drill. They spent three months in the open, drilling at a depth of about 300-400 meters below the seabed in various locations, in order to draw sediments and water samples.

They discovered water with salt content much lower than that of seawater and about the level recommended by US and international drinking water services. It is now sent for laboratory tests to determine what kind of germs it contains and how safe it is for how much it is.

The age of water

Another mystery to be resolved is the age of the water. He could be 200 years old, he could be 20,000 years old, said Brandon Dugan, a professor of geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines and head of the mission.

The presence of newer water will indicate that the stock is recalled, while earlier water will indicate that it is a finite resource that is not renewed. They will have the answers in about six months, Dugan said.

Scientists will also carry out tests to determine the origin of the water -it may come from the melting of a glacier or rain.

“We believe that fresh water arrived there thousands of years ago, when the sea level was much lower and the continental shelf was exposed to land,” said Holly Michael, a professor of geosciences and civil engineers and environmental engineers at the University of Delaware.

Knowledge of origin will help to reveal “how these systems have evolved over time,” Dugan said. Scientists can then apply this knowledge to other areas where there are signs of underground fresh waters, such as Indonesia, Australia and South Africa.

It will also help them understand how these submarine fresh water resources change as the sea level increases globally if they increase or decrease.

“The answer to these questions is important to predict how to use water in the future,” Michael said.

The aquifer confirmed by the mission seems to be huge, said Eric Attias, a research assistant professor at Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas in Austin, who did not participate in the program.

Capable of feeding New York

It could “contain enough fresh water to supply a metropolis of the size of New York for hundreds of years,” he told CNN, and increases hopes that it could “relieve the lack of water for coastal populations in the future.”

Almost half of the population of the planet lives 60 miles from the coast and many depend on underground aquifers on land -rapidly decreasing due to excessive pumping and impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels.

“In the future, coastal aquatic resources will suffer even more pressure,” Michael said, forcing communities to turn to other, more expensive sources of water, such as desalination. Underwater aquifers could be an alternative.

However, there are many challenges that need to be addressed first. The water is heavy and its pumping and its transfer to the coast may be very energy -efficient and expensive, although Dugan suggests that wind energy could help. There is the question of who will manage, process and pay for water, which will be derived from federal waters before being sent to the states and then to the cities.

Then there is the technical challenge to ensure that fresh water is not contaminated by the salty water above and under it. Pumping could also lead to infection of underground aquifers on land if the two systems are connected, Attias said.

The pumping of groundwater from the high seas “will be expensive and not unlimited,” Michael said. “Freshwater protection we have on land is still the best we can do. Of course, this does not mean that we should not look for alternatives, so we do this research. “

Dugan is optimistic. “There are all the pieces,” it’s just a matter of time, “he said. He estimates that it will take about 10 years until the underwater aquifers can be used properly.

What the researchers will discover in the coming months could have a global impact. Evidence shows that there are fresh water stocks on the high seas on every continent, Dugan said. “We can get what we have learned in this little part of New England and start thinking about how it relates to other areas,” he added.