Scientists went hunting for freshwater deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. What they found could have global implications

A ship set sail from Connecticut in May to spend three months offshore hunting for freshwater deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. LEBER@ECORD_IODP3_NSF

This summer scientists drilled deep below the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of northeastern US and tapped into a huge, mysterious reservoir of freshwater — what they discovered could have big implications for a world grappling with an increasingly severe water crisis.

The existence of freshwater beneath the Atlantic has been known for decades, but it had remained virtually unexplored. In the 1960s and 70s, scientific expeditions and companies drilling the ocean for resources such as oil would sometimes hit fresh water.

Then, in 2019, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Columbia University announced a “surprising di