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Responsive graphic shows results of the Five Deeps Expedition.
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SCIENCE

Oceans' extreme depths measured

By Ben Mullins

May 18, 2021 - After 75,600km and 39 dives, the Five Deeps Expedition has completed the first manned descent to the bottom of the world’s five oceans.

After mapping the seafloor bottoms in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern oceans, scientists believe they have the most precise information yet on the deepest points in each of Earth’s five oceans.

All of the new bathymetry (depth data) is contained in a paper published in the Geoscience Data Journal.

To be able to carry all the measurments, members of the expedition used a Triton 36000/2 deep-submergence vehicle, the world’s first craft certified to repeatedly carry humans on dives of 11,000m, according to its manufacturers.

The submersible was piloted by explorer and investor Victor Vescovo, along with scientist Alan Jamieson from Newcastle University.

All of the information collected by the expedition is being handed over to the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, which aims to compile, from various data sources, a full-ocean depth map by the end of the decade.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 18/05/2021; STORY: Graphic News
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