The innovative combination of artificial intelligence recognition and environmental DNA-based detection has advanced the study of benthic-organism connectivity and "marine snow" during China's largest Arctic Ocean scientific expedition to date. Organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, China’s 15th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition lasted 83 days and concluded on September 26. It was jointly carried out by four vessels: the research icebreaker Xuelong 2 (Snow Dragon 2), Jidi, Shenhai-1, and Tansuo-3. The expedition has further advanced China’s understanding of rapid changes in the Arctic Ocean and their impacts, providing important support for deeper insight and a more effective response to global climate change, according to researchers. Using real-time AI recognition of species recorded by the camera on China’s manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong, researchers found that biodiversity, benthic organism density, and individual organism size varied significantly across distances ranging from dozens to hundreds of kilometers in the surveyed sea areas. Researchers found that the Emperor Seamount Chain in the North Pacific Ocean contains 64 benthic biological groups, sharing 85 percent similarity with those of the Magellan Seamounts in the Western Pacific Ocean. This suggests potential connectivity among benthic organism groups across Pacific seamounts. The crew onboard the deep-sea submersible also conducted environmental DNA analyses to verify the accuracy of the AI-based species recognition. The latest expedition reached 77.5 degrees north latitude, filling a gap in observational data from the high-latitude areas of the Arctic Ocean, which is expected to support improvements in marine environment forecasting capabilities. The Jiaolong submersible also collected a large number of rock, sediment, and seawater samples, as well as 183 biological samples in 12 major categories, including ascidians, sea anemones, brittle stars, amphipods, and sea spiders. The expedition also improved understanding of the formation mechanisms of "marine snow" in the Arctic, laying the foundation for studying how ice-edge ecosystems respond to sea ice retreat. Shotlist: Qingdao City, Shandong Province, east China - Recent: FILE: At Sea - Aug-Sept 2025 1. Various of manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong with mothership Shenhai-1, being lowered into Arctic Ocean in China's 15th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition; 2. Various of Jiaolong operating in Arctic Ocean, benthic organisms; 3. Various of Jiaolong interior, screen showing real-time AI recognition of species recorded by Jiaolong's camera; Qingdao City, Shandong Province, east China - Recent 4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xu Xuewei, deputy director, National Deep Sea Center (partially overlaid with shot 5): "Aquatic organisms leave traces such as cells and skin in the sea, where even a few drops of water contain such genetic materials called environmental DNA (eDNA). It enables scientists to identify a diverse range of species even after they have left the location for a long time. The Jiaolong submersible is equipped with a water filtration system, so that it can collect eDNA while filming videos. The eDNA samples are then sent to laboratories for in-depth sequencing, which is like 'fingerprint identification' of the samples. So by combining these two technologies, dual verification can be achieved‌." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; FILE: At Sea - Aug-Sept 2025 5. Benthic organisms [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]; FILE: At Sea - July-Sept 2025 6. Various of vessels carrying out China's 15th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition; Jiaolong being lowered into Arctic Ocean; 7. Jiaolong crew members working; 8. Various of Jiaolong operating in Arctic Ocean, collecting samples; benthic organisms; marine snow; 9. Various of Jiaoling being lifted from Arctic Ocean, vessel sailing. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]