Hollywood director James Cameron is preparing to dive to the deepest point of the oceans, it was revealed Sunday, as part of his research for a sequel to "Avatar," his 3D epic.
He has commissioned Australian engineers to build a deep sea submersible which can reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench - 36,000ft (10.9km) down in the western Pacific (Marine GeoGarage position)- after deciding to set the film in the turbulent waters of Pandora, an alien moon.
The vessel will be fitted with 3D cameras designed by Cameron so that he can take unprecedented footage of such depths and, if he wants to, fill it with digitally created monsters for Avatar 2.
The muddy, rocky Mariana Trench, which could swallow Mount Everest, has been visited by man only once.
In May 1960, a submersible called the Trieste took nearly five hours to descend to its floor. Its passengers, Jacques Piccard, a Swiss scientist, and Don Walsh, a US navy lieutenant, were able to spend 20 minutes at the bottom of the world.
In the cold and darkness, eating chocolate bars, they were joined by flounder, sole and shrimp, proving that some vertebrate life can exist at such extraordinary depths. Although remote-controlled vessels have gone back to the Challenger Deep, a valley at the bottom of the trench, no humans have been so deep again.
However, Cameron, who reportedly earned $US350 million ($377.84m) from Avatar, has the money and passion to return. His obsession with the waters that cover two-thirds of the world’s surface has been manifested not only in his blockbuster Titanic and a spin-off documentary, but also in his 1989 film The Abyss.
Last month, Cameron spent his 56th birthday in a Russian deep sea submersible called the Mir-1, descending more than 1.5km into Lake Baikal in Siberia, the deepest freshwater lake in the world. (see video above) Cameron told Russian journalists that he had come to the Siberian lake to draw attention to its pollution problems. He says his descent into the Mariana Trench would be a similar environmental mission.
“We are building a vehicle to do the dive,” he said. “It’s about half-completed in Australia.”
He hopes to start preparing for the dive later this year.
Australian scientists believed to be working for Cameron have visited the San Francisco headquarters of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, which has been building a submersible capable of settling at the bottom of the trench. Cameron’s new vessel is expected to be a two-seater, finned cylinder fitted with the latest 3D cameras and a heating system largely missing from the Trieste.
Some of his footage from the depths may end up in Avatar 2 - which is not expected to reach cinemas before 2014 - or possibly in two other deep-sea adventures that the director is considering turning into movies.
Times Online builds on that story by announcing that the X Prize Foundation announced a new challenge: Later this year the X Prize Foundation will offer at least $10 million (£6 million) for the first privately funded craft to make two repeat visits to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The foundation now aims to change deep ocean exploration by inspiring companies to develop technologies that will “significantly increase our ability to explore, gather information, and map the ocean’s depths”.
The latest stories throw English Billionaire Richard Branson into the mix, as he has announced his plans at the beginning of the year to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench using a jetfighter-like submarine being built in the United States.
So the director of the two most successful films ever made and the owner of one of the world's most visible airlines are vying for the title of first human in fifty years to dive to the deepest, darkest point in the Mariana Trench all while a third party, the X Prize Foundation, is offering a $10 million prize for whoever gets their not first, but twice.
One-hundred-foot-tall waves can be nightmarish ship-swallowing monsters — or seductive sirens that tempt the adventurous. But it wasn't until 15 years ago that scientists were even able to prove that such giant rogue waves actually existed.
Susan Casey, whose book The Wave tells the story of great waves and those who seek to solve and ride them, says people were skeptical of 100-foot waves because weather patterns don't seem to predict them.
Casey says she first became interested in learning about monster waves after hearing a story about the British research vessel Discovery, a 230-meter-long ship that became trapped in a vortex of giant waves for several days. The waves, Casey says, ranged from 60 to 100 feet tall and were not predicted by weather models.
"I just wanted to find out more about that, and yet there had been nothing written," she tells NPR's Scott Simon. "So I began to investigate."
'Avalanches Of Water'
Casey says that physics principles don't seem to allow for huge waves to exist in certain sea conditions. Yet, "for decades and even centuries, boats had been disappearing, and mariners had said, 'You know, there were these incredibly big waves, and we just escaped,' and nobody believed them."
"It was only in 1980 that we got satellites, and it was 15 years after that that it was proved that there are these 100-foot waves that can actually appear in, say, a 38-foot sea," Casey says. "But that made no sense at all."
The number of super-large waves is likely on the rise, Casey says, as a result of more climatic extremes, which in turn lead to feistier seas, tougher ocean conditions and bigger storms. The waves form as a result of these large storms, and the inherent instability of the waves — the steepness of the face — lead them to "sort of freaking out and becoming these rogue waves that are very unstable," she says.
"They're almost like avalanches of water, where one wave will all of a sudden grab the energy from, say, three or four waves around it and become this teetering monster that doesn't act like a normal wave."
Waves 'Going To Waste'
While some people fear these waves, others want to get as close to them as possible.
"I was very interested in anybody who had been in a position to tell me more about waves this size," Casey says. She found such people in "a very rarefied group of extreme surfers who seek them out."
Chief among them is Laird Hamilton, who invented a special kind of surfing just to tackle these mega waves. At some point, Casey says, the waves move too fast for anyone to be able to paddle into them. "The best waves in the world were going to waste," she said Hamilton once told her.
So Hamilton and some surfing friends began tinkering and came up with a technique involving jet skis and water ski ropes that enabled surfers to ride large waves.
Hamilton insists he's not nuts: "I would think [I'm] more on the sane side than most of the people that live in cities. And really, I'm doing it — not only because we're able to — but because for us, it's like an exploration. What can we do? How far can we go?"
Hamilton says his pursuit of giant waves really has to do with developing a "more intimate" relationship with the ocean. Being in the presence of a giant wave, he says, is to "experience something that is unexperienced by normal man or by any man."
Trying to describe the experience of surfing a huge wave is as difficult as trying to describe a color, Hamilton says. "It's something all-consuming. It's an experience that changes who you are. I just feel so alive from doing it. I feel like I get such great power."
And to wipe out?
"It's the moment where you totally relinquish any true control over what you're doing," he says. "There's no place really in life that does it quite like that — when you do fall and you do get hit by [the water], you're just at the mercy of the wave and it dictates. And sometimes those are the most thrilling rides of all. Unfortunately."
About 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, but so little is known about the oceans, Casey says. "This is, to me, the amazing thing: This spectacular force of nature, these rogue waves that can take out an 850-foot ship were, up to 15 years ago, considered not to exist. The most important thing about the ocean is that we explore it. It's our own planet — it's spectacularly beautiful, and it's really, really powerful."
BiG wave Surf in TEahupOO , Tasmania ... too the best wieaput's. all in 2010
Teahupoo 2010 : some of the best big waves riders were there on this first 2010 big swell (the biggest since 5 years). Manoa Drollet certainly surfed the best wave of the day
In July French rower Mathieu Bonnier started rowing from Qaanaaq in Greenland towards Resolute Bay in the north of Canada where he arrived a week ago. He has left again over the weekend to carry on with his Northwest Passage row.
During his row from Qaanaaq to Resolute Bay Mathieu encountered sea ice that blocked his way, and icebergs and colonies of walruses that were best avoided.
Coast guard ships
On the way to Resolute the lone rower met with two Canadian coast guard ships, the ‘Henry Larsen’ and the ‘Terry Fox'. The ’Terry Fox’ helped Mathieu after he had a very difficult night with little sleep while the tide was pushing his boat against the rocks.
Ice cold sea and wind
His home team said during his row he slept for one or two hours at a time, interrupted by weather issues and drift control through surrounding icebergs.
The wind was not always in favor of the rower. The home team once reported, "Mathieu had headwinds for 5 days, which prevented him from making a direct route. He struggled to paddle like hell as long as possible each day against the wind. You have to imagine waves of 1 to 2 meters hitting the boat with the spray at 0°C. He rowed 12-15 hours per day in these conditions. When he stopped, he put out a para anchor to avoid drifting. He has managed very well and rested when the wind was at its strongest.”
Baffin Bay crossing
Bonnier’s home team says his crossing of Baffin Bay is the first since the Vikings “and again, they had sails and oars and probably crossed South. Alone, no one has ever done it.”
There were a lot of ice in this area and big icebergs were seen from afar.
On July 28 his home team reported that Mathieu has crossed Baffin Bay in 12 days, after a brave effort in difficult conditions. He encountered a lot of ice during the last miles. He arrived in the middle of seals and he met his first Polar Bear, a male who was swimming about fifty yards from the boat. So he rows with his rifle on his shoulders, but the risk was minimal when it moves away from the ice floes, reported the home team.
Blocked before Resolute Bay
The sea ice was a big challenge up to the last minute of his arrival in Resolute Bay. Mathieu crossed the Strait of Wellington, but was blocked by ice and 70km/h winds near Cape Dungeness only 20 minutes from Resolute Bay.
After a week’s stay in Resolute Bay, waiting for good conditions, he departed over the weekend, reported Maurice Uguen to ExplorersWeb. His latest position according to his map is 73° 51.45 N, 95° 30.55 W (Marine GeoGarage). No new updates since his departure.
When he left Resolute Bay the coast guard warned Mathieu about ice between Resolute and Cambridge Bay and they asked him to stay in daily contact with them.
Mathieu Bonnier is a veterinary surgeon who has skied across Alaska in the winter of 2006 with his dog Tico. He participated in the 2007 World Rowing Championships and in 2009 rowed the Bouvet Rames Guyane Transatlantic Rowing Race. Mathieu rowed the 4700 solo and came second after being 43 days at the oars.
Mathieu Bonnier plans to transit the Northwest Passage in a rowboat. He started from Greenland in the summer of 2010 and plans to complete the row in the summer of 2011 when he reaches Alaska. During the Arctic winter months he will take a break and wait for daylight again. His dog Tico will meet up with him along the route.
Great footage of a basking shark shot by kayaker Craig Whalley off the Isle of Man
NOAA's Fisheries Service has designated the eastern North Pacific basking shark, a 'species of concern' because it has suffered a dramatic decline in population despite decreasing fishing pressure. The label 'species of concern' may be given to a species when there are concerns regarding the population status.
The eastern Pacific basking shark is not being considered for listing pursuant to the Endangered Species Act, rather it is a species of concern because it has been over fished and its population has apparently not responded to conservation measures implemented to address fishing pressure. We expect that by identifying it as a species of concern we will raise public awareness of the species status, generate interest in additional research to identify factors that may be inhibiting its recovery and, with states and other partners, restore this population before listing under the ESA becomes necessary.
Basking sharks are filter feeders that exist throughout the world's oceans from the tropics to the Arctic, although they are most commonly found in temperate coastal waters where currents converge and plankton, their main food source, concentrate. The eastern North Pacific population of basking sharks is thought to be a single group that migrates seasonally along the West Coast from Canada to Central California.
Until the 1950s, commercial fishermen in California targeted the sharks primarily for fishmeal and fish oil, and Canadian fishermen targeted them until the 1970s, in response to an eradication program that sought to reduce interactions between the sharks and salmon fishing nets. Although there has been no commercial fishing pressure for decades, scientists are worried about the eastern North Pacific population of basking sharks, whose numbers have not rebounded. While hundreds, and even thousands, of fish were once observed together, no group larger than three has been reported seen since 1993.
The species is also still vulnerable to human impacts even though it is no longer actively targeted in the United States and Canada. Fishermen may inadvertently catch the shark while fishing for another species, or it may become entangled in commercial fishing gear or hit by vessels as it feeds near the surface.
In U.S. federal waters of the Pacific, sharks caught incidentally must be released immediately, and the state of California has likewise banned the retention of basking sharks. In Canada, the Species at Risk Act makes it illegal to take, harass, or destroy habitat for basking sharks there. The species is also listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as endangered. Basking sharks may still be caught in some countries where they command a high price for their fins in shark fin soup.
Links :
NOAA Fisheries tags first basking shark in the Pacific Ocean
Northern Sea Route – the shortest sea lane between the European part of Russia and Russia’s Far East, historically it formed a national transport communication system in the Arctic
CF BALTICA, DWT 117000, completed an historic NSR voyage by passing Bering Strait into Pacific Ocean on 27th August at 08.00 hrs Moscow time.
This is the first time that a tanker of her size completed such voyage. An historic event. The tanker loaded with 70,000 tonnes of gas condensate in direction to her discharge port Ningbo (China) ETA in the first half of September 2010 (06/09). The NSR voyage had been carefully planned by thorough and professional preparatory work by SCF Unicom, the Technical Manager and Operator of this vessel and her Owners SCF Sovcomflot.
These involved all areas related to the navigation/technical as well as all necessary requirements of NSR rules and Russian legislation in order to provide safe navigation and protection of the Arctic environment. Risk Assessment and the required actions of crew and related shore unites in a potential emergency were thoroughly considered and contingency plans were developed.
SCF Unicom’s tanker crew includes seafarers with practical experience of ice operations including sailing along the NSR shipping lanes. SCF Baltica’s crew received additional and upgrading training for this voyage. Thorough support and assistance was received by the departments within Russia’s Ministry of Transport.
The vessel’s route took her through the Barents Sea (North of Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya Island); the Vilkitsky Strait, which ended in the Taimyr ice field, then through the Sannikov Strait, the Laptev Sea, the ice fields of the East-Siberian Sea (checking with Mogilyuk) and Chukchi sea. The passage of 2500 miles between Murmansk and Pevek required only 11 days. She arrived at Pevek on 24th of August pm ahead of her schedule. At different stages of the NSR route, passing in particular through Vilkitsky, Sannikov and Longa Straits, the tanker was escorted by nuclear-powered ice-breakers Taimyr, Rossiya and 50 let Pobedy (50 years of Victory).
Radar images of RADARSAT-1 were used to assess ice situation along the ship route and to select the optimal itinerary.
Receiving centres of the ScanEx's network were used for operational acquisition, processing and transmission of the satellite imagery data: automated ground receiving stations UniScan in Moscow, Megion and Magadan. After processing the product was transferred in real-time via the Internet network through "Atomflot-Kosmosnimki" geo-service. The geo-service was created based on the GeoMixer technology in behalf of Atomflot that placed a request to ScanEx to collect and process satellite radar data in 2010 about the ice situation on the NSR route and the Non-Arctic freezing seas of Russia.
During the summer navigation period FSU Atomflot (the service base for the nuclear icebreakers) on numerous occasions used satellite radar data for escorting ships along the NSR route. The work experience shows that the application of space images allows increasing only the safety but the economic efficiency of maritime ice operations under the conditions of Arctica.
By the end of this voyage SCF Baltica will have covered 7000 miles from Murmansk to China instead of the 12000 miles required passing Suez Canal. Statistical data collected during the voyage will form the basis for planning similar voyages in 2011 and for further research required mapping new deep water routes in the high latitudes of the Arctic.
Links :
Google Maps : A comparison of traditional shipping routes and the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
