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The Real Abyss


bouncer

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When Picard and Walsh took the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom of the trench in 1960 they observed a flat seabed of primordial ooze and saw a few flatfish and prawn-like animals living in that extreme environment. It is perfectly dark from about 1 kilometre downward so there is no photosynthesis and living things are generally very pale or white. The Trieste's outer plexiglass windscreen cracked on the way down and I've often wondered if it was sheer bravery or foolhardiness that led them to complete their mission. Hats off to Cameron, AND his competitors, for even contemplating the descent into that cold black abyss.

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When Picard and Walsh took the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom of the trench in 1960 they observed a flat seabed of primordial ooze and saw a few flatfish and prawn-like animals living in that extreme environment. It is perfectly dark from about 1 kilometre downward so there is no photosynthesis and living things are generally very pale or white. The Trieste's outer plexiglass windscreen cracked on the way down and I've often wondered if it was sheer bravery or foolhardiness that led them to complete their mission. Hats off to Cameron, AND his competitors, for even contemplating the descent into that cold black abyss.

...that just twitched my freakyometer up a few notches.. :blink:

Not only do I not like absolute darkness, nor the claustrophobic thought of being in a one man sub going 7 miles down, slowly...hearing creaks and groans..while having the lingering thoughts that it could well be the last thing you ever do...jeez, would you do it?

Kudos for James, he's obviously 'grown some balls' in his lifetime...

Edited by bouncer
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My goodness, so he has to stand up on the way down while the sub spins? Holy smoly, that'd make you dizzy! Fingers crossed all goes well and he gets back up OK! Communicating by text message too, ha, just like in the film!!

Nat Geo link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120324-james-cameron-mariana-trench-dive-deepest-science-sub/

Edited by bouncer
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And...hes back up now, for some reason he didnt spend as long on the bottom as planned, but who can blame him?

Perhaps the Kraken chased him away?

Or maybe it was a Megalodon?

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What an adventure of a lifetime for James Cameron, not to compete with the first civilian in space travel: Dennis Tito paid part of his billion-dollar fortune to ride once in the Russian space program a decade ago. We all wish to travel waitless 100km above our planet and get to the deepest spots of the earth. The point is the rich and famous may afford the uber-pricey expensive trips of our lives, they opened the doors to a new private travel industry above and beyond.

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What a great achievement from a non-government sponsored mission. Lets hope this is the start of loads more.

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So how long does it take to upload a video to youtube?

As Ive been following this story from the start, may I explain why no youtube vids?..so far?

His sub actually leaked fluids, hence why he wasnt down as long as planned, and wasnt much to see, as you may expect at that depth

snip:

"Emerging from his cramped "pilot sphere" after surfacing, Cameron flashed two thumbs up, then described what he'd seen.

"It was bleak," he said. "It looked like the moon."

As for life-forms, he said, "I didn't see a fish. ... I didn't find anything that looked alive to me, other than a few [shrimplike] amphipods in the water," he said from aboard the research vessel Mermaid Sapphire. (See pictures of giant amphipods.)

"I didn't feel like I got to a place where I could take interesting geology samples or found anything interesting biologically."

This may be, in part, because a hydraulic fluid leak convinced Cameron to end the mission after about three hours. Previous projections had him surveying and sampling Challenger Deep and its life-forms for as long as six hours.

"I saw a lot of hydraulic oil come up in front of the port. The port got coated with it," he explained.

Cameron had planned to collect rock and animal samples with the sub's mechanical arm, but with the leak, "I couldn't pick anything up, so I began to feel like it was a moment of diminishing returns to go on."

Finally, he said, "I lost a lot of thrusters. I lost the whole starboard side. That's when I decided to come up. I couldn't go any further—I was just spinning in a circle."

source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120326-james-cameron-mariana-trench-fluid-leak-fish-science-sub/

and:

“I felt isolated from all humanity,” he told a group of journalists participating in a telephone press conference. “I felt I had gone to another planet and come back all in one day. It was like arriving at another world.”

“It’s a vast frontier down there,” said Cameron, who described the area as “lunar, desolate and isolated.”

“The bottom of the Trench was completely blank. I had the idea that life would adapt to the deepest places. But I didn’t see any fish or sea monsters.”

source: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1151862--james-cameron-describes-life-at-the-earth-s-deepest-spot

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Very interesting,is he doing it for fame and glory,or in the interests of science ? ...Men have put themselves into harms way for both...Brave man or Idiot ?,Unmanned submersibles can do the job just as well...and without risk of life...

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Very interesting,is he doing it for fame and glory,or in the interests of science ? ...Men have put themselves into harms way for both...Brave man or Idiot ?,Unmanned submersibles can do the job just as well...and without risk of life...

hey spud

well he says it was a life long dream, was influence early on by Jacques Coustea and all that

Mind you so was I, always wanted to be a deep sea diver as a kid from watching Jacques

But think how creepy that was tho, 7 miles down and something starts leaking!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!

bad time and bad place to have a leak...

(the sub that is.. he prolly just had a massive poop))

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I guess it would be intense blackness outside the scope of his lights,like being down a pothole with the lights out,you can almost "feel" the dark,and very scary......

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Damn, if the thing ruptured at 7mi depth, at least it'd be quick!! Me? I'm staying on the surface!

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Hi big "B",yer I used to watch old Jackie Custard,he talked with a funny accent or was it "frog" english,anyway before he got on the scene my favourites were Hans & Lotte Haas,until poor Lotte was killed by a shark,(bit her head off from behind I think).I hated sharks ever since as she was lovely.

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I guess it would be intense blackness outside the scope of his lights,like being down a pothole with the lights out,you can almost "feel" the dark,and very scary......

It would freak me bud. Just the dark that is!! .... let alone being 7 miles down

gotta give him credit for that! Thought I had balls too! But I wouldnt have done it tho!

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Hi big "B",yer I used to watch old Jackie Custard,he talked with a funny accent or was it "frog" english,anyway before he got on the scene my favourites were Hans & Lotte Haas,until poor Lotte was killed by a shark,(bit her head off from behind I think).I hated sharks ever since as she was lovely.

Ive hated sharks and the deep blue sea ever since I watched JAWS!! :no: :no:

have a listen to this then!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQiW62WW0jM

Damn, if the thing ruptured at 7mi depth, at least it'd be quick!! Me? I'm staying on the surface!

;)

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It would freak me bud. Just the dark that is!! .... let alone being 7 miles down

gotta give him credit for that! Thought I had balls too! But I wouldnt have done it tho!

haaaa aaaa had a chuckle at your comment,bet its not as scary as going to see the Mackems v The Magpies,now that is a bit knee trembly,especially at home time if we win,at the mags patch...

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haaaa aaaa had a chuckle at your comment,bet its not as scary as going to see the Mackems v The Magpies,now that is a bit knee trembly,especially at home time if we win,at the mags patch...

we shall see then, But GOOD LUCK!!

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Ive hated sharks and the deep blue sea ever since I watched JAWS!! :no: :no:

have a listen to this then!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=PQiW62WW0jM

;)

Ive hated sharks since a fin appeared between me and the beach at Trinidad,...I was lucky,they caught it later it was a 13 ft Tiger,and it had a car number plate in its stomach ,and half a tuna....so it wasnt hungry...phew !!!
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Ive hated sharks since a fin appeared between me and the beach at Trinidad,...I was lucky,they caught it later it was a 13 ft Tiger,and it had a car number plate in its stomach ,and half a tuna....so it wasnt hungry...phew !!!

Blimey. Id have turned that water to froth swimming back to shore with flippers going like gnats wings I can tell ya!

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Blimey. Id have turned that water to froth swimming back to shore with flippers going like gnats wings I can tell ya!

I still occasionally have bad dreams and wake up in a sweat just before it gets me...I got to the beach and was shaking so badly my mate had to hold the ciggy in my mouth as I couldnt stop my hand shaking.I still wonder how it got the car number plate in its stomach,the locals were after any shark they could catch as one of them had been killed the week before,they had 31 dead sharks further along the beach,terrific smell and millions of huge flies.Even in U.K waters you dont know whats swimming 20 yards from you,I have never been in the sea since.My son caught a 4 ft one last summer off Bournemouth...cheers.

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