Challenger low

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The Mariana Trench in the Pacific

The Challenger Deep is a deep sea in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean . Echosounder measurements from 2010 showed a provisional value of 10,994 ± 40 meters sea depth; in a revised evaluation in 2014, the measurements from 2010 were refined to 10,984 ± 25 meters.

geography

The Challenger Deep is located about 1,800 km east of the Philippines in the southwestern part of the Mariana Trench, a deep-sea channel in the western Pacific. It is located about 300 km southwest of the island of Guam , an island of the Mariana Islands , which belong to the Micronesian Islands , at about 12 ° north latitude and 143 ° east longitude .

history

As early as 1951, the crew of the English survey vessel Challenger II determined a sea ​​depth of 10,899 m in the Mariana Trench using an echo sounder (10,863 m using wire sounding ); this place was given the name "Challenger Deep".

On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh were the first people to dive to the bottom of the deep in the Trieste submersible . The exact location of the dive is therefore also known as the Trieste Deep . Piccard and Walsh measured a depth of 10,916 m.

The unmanned Japanese submersible Kaikō collected sediment samples there in March 1995 and determined a depth of 10,911 m.

On May 31, 2009, the likewise unmanned diving robot Nereus of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts reached the Challenger Deep and took soil samples. Most of the mud found there consists of foraminifera . During this dive a depth of 10,902 m was indicated.

Two years later, on December 7, 2011, researchers led by Jim Gardner from the University of New Hampshire published the results of the dive of an underwater robot in which a depth of 10,994 meters had been determined using sound waves. The result is accurate to within 40 m.

Four groups worked independently of each other to send a manned boat back to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. The race was won on March 26, 2012 by the filmmaker James Cameron , who was the first person to reach the bottom with the Deepsea Challenger and the third person at all.

Between April 28, 2019 and May 5, 2019, four dives were completed in the Challenger Deep with the Limiting Factor submersible. Victor Vescovo reached the new record depth of 10,928 m on April 28, 2019, and 10,927 m during another solo dive on May 1, 2019. On the third dive, also at 10,927 m, the Canadian Patrick Lahey was on board as a pilot and the German Jonathan Struwe as the representative of the classification society DNV GL . This dive served as the final proof of the operational suitability of the submersible even in the greatest possible water depth. On the fourth dive, Patrick Lahey was at the wheel of the submersible again. He was accompanied by the Englishman John Ramsey, the chief designer of the submersible.

On June 7, 2020, Kathryn D. Sullivan , together with Victor Vescovo, became the first woman to reach the Challenger Low.

Deepest known point in the world's oceans

Since the research trip of the Vitjas for the International Geophysical Year in 1957, Vitjastief 1 in the Mariana Trench has been the deepest point on the earth's surface .

There are now doubts about the measured value of 11,034 m below sea ​​level . Other depth measurements showed values ​​between 10,900 m and 11,000 m. Accordingly, the Challenger Deep could also be the deepest known point in the world's oceans.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Andrew A. Armstrong: Cruise Report: USNS Sumner (T-AGS 61) US Extended Continental Shelf Cruise to Map Sections of the Mariana Trench and the Eastern and Southern Insular Margins of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. (pdf, 6.9 MB) In: UNH-CCOM / JHC Technical Report 11-002. NOAA / UNH Joint Hydrographic Center University of New Hampshire, December 22, 2011, p. 12 , accessed January 23, 2020 .
  2. ↑ James V. Gardner, Andrew A. Armstrong, Brian R. Calder, Jonathan Beaudoin: So, How Deep Is the Mariana Trench? (pdf, 573 kB) In: Marine Geodesy, 37. February 21, 2014, pp. 1–13 , accessed on January 23, 2020 (English).
  3. ↑ Horst Rademacher : Far and wide only foraminifera. In: FAZ.net . June 11, 2009, accessed January 23, 2020 .
  4. ^ Race to the bottom of the ocean. In: BBC.com . February 22, 2012, accessed January 23, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Ker Than: James Cameron Completes Record-Breaking Mariana Trench Dive. In: National Geographic News . May 25, 2012, accessed January 23, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Stephanie Fitzherbert: Deepest Submarine Dive in History, Five Deeps Expedition Conquers Challenger Deep. (pdf, 209 KB) Press release of the Five Deeps Expedition on the dives in Mariannengraben, May 13, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2019 (English). Francesca Street: DeDeepest ever dive finds 'plastic bag' at bottom of Mariana Trench. In: CNN . May 14, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2019 . Hannah Osborne: Meet Victor Vescovo, Who Just Broke the World Record by Diving 35,853 Feet Into the Deepest Part of the Ocean. In: Newsweek . May 13, 2019, accessed on May 13, 2019 .
  7. ^ 1st US Woman To Walk In Space Dives To Deepest Point In The Ocean. Retrieved June 10, 2020 .

Coordinates: 11 ° 21 ′ 59 "  N , 142 ° 35 ′ 59"  E