The world’s oceans are still largely inhospitable and inaccessible. In many ways, the feat of reaching, and surviving, in space is easier to accomplish than trying to survive in the deepest depths of the ocean. Now, though, some leading minds have come up with a potential solution: an underwater “basecamp”.
This is Michael Lombardi.
This National Geographic explorer, along with NYU associate professor Winslow Burleson, have developed a device designed to float underwater that can be used by divers as a basecamp during explorations.
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The current system is less than perfect.
SCUBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) suits allow divers to breathe when they’re deep underwater. But nothing protects them from developing decompression sickness (“the bends”), which can easily kill a person if it isn’t dealt with properly.
Diving deep? That’ll take time.
To avoid the bends, divers coming back from a deep dive need to spend time at different depths, slowly making their way back to the surface. Barring that, they might need to spend hours in a special decompression chamber, seen above.
This new tech aims to remedy all that.
Functioning as kind of a collapsible diving bell, the underwater tent has ample room for a couple of divers to swim into and hang out in for an extended period.
The team tested an early version back in 2015.
They’ve made tweaks in the years since, but the basic concept was proven to work: a collapsible capsule (try saying that three times fast) that expands while underwater, giving divers a dry place to hang out.
It’s brightly colored.
This is a no-brainer, as it helps divers find a safe haven when they’re tired and disoriented, or if the water is just too murky to see stuff at longer distances.
The diver climbs in from the bottom.
The device is covered with handles and bars to allow the diver to hoist themselves in — a necessity underwater, in what’s essentially a zero-gravity environment where it can be tough to gain momentum.
The view from outside.
Here’s what a diver on the outside would see when they look in the porthole. It’s a dry space (above a certain point), which allows divers to get work done while they wait out the decompression process.
…and here’s the view looking out.
The porthole allows them to encourage their fellow divers, perhaps, or just watch the underwater world go by. It’s much better than the vault-like ambience of a traditional decompression chamber.
It’s cozy, but there’s still room inside.
It might not be luxury accommodations, but in diving, it’s necessary to spend time at certain pressures. It’s a process that divers simply must wait out. At least this chamber gives them space to rest up.
Lombardi and Burleson are all about the underwater projects.
You’ll want to check out their website for full details. Basically, they’re all about finding ways to make the underwater world more accessible for divers, researchers and scientists. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Why is this so important?
There are a few reasons listed throughout Ocean Opportunity’s social media channels. For starters, submersibles can only do so much. A lot of valuable data can only be collected using a hands-on approach.
We need more data on the world’s oceans.
Sea levels are rising, marine species are dying off and pollution is widespread. We absolutely need to glean as much information as we can about the oceans and waterways that help us survive.
Ultimately, our survival depends on it.
The news is often grim in 2019. But this project is proof positive of the fact that clever humans are finding new ways of researching the world, in order to (hopefully) make the world a better place.
