10 Euros - Albert II Belgian Deep Sea Exploration

This coin was issued to commemorate Belgium's contributions to deep-sea research, a field in which the country punched well above its weight through the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and its involvement in international oceanographic programs. The timing aligns with renewed scientific interest in the deep ocean driven by the Census of Marine Life, a decade-long international project that concluded in 2010 with the cataloguing of over 6,000 previously unknown species.