In the field: an interview with Katsufumi Sato

Katsufumi Sato is a Professor at The University of Tokyo, Japan, where he investigates the behaviour of top marine predators. He completed his undergraduate degree in Fisheries, and his Master's degree and PhD at Kyoto University, Japan. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan, Sato was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the same institute, before moving to the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2004. Sato was awarded a National Geographic Emerging Explorer grant in 2009 and promoted to Professor in 2014. Telling us about his research experiences around Japan and in Antarctica, Sato describes how his data logging devices have led to collaborations with scientists across the globe.

Trench Connection

‘Trench Connection’ was the first international symposium focusing primarily on the hadal zone (depths greater than 6000 m). It was held at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute in November 2010. The symposium was successful in having attracted an international collective of scientists and engineers to discuss the latest developments in the exploration and understanding of the deepest environments on Earth. The symposium sessions were categorized into three themes: (i) new deep-submergence technology; (ii) trench ecology and evolution; and (iii) the physical environment. Recent technological developments have overcome the challenges of accessing the extreme depths, which have in turn prompted an international renewed interest in researching physical and biological aspects of the hadal ecosystems. This bringing together of international participants from different disciplines led to healthy discussions throughout the symposium, providing potential opportunities and realizations of where the future of unravelling hadal ecology lies. Hadal science is still at relatively rudimentary levels compared with those of shallower marine environments; however, it became apparent at the symposium that it is now an ever-expanding scientific field.