The first-ever crewed mission has reached the Atacama Trench, the deepest section of the Eastern Pacific. On January 21, oceanographer Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa and veteran ocean explorer Victor Vescovo ventured to the deepest location on the planet, Richards Deep, which they measured at 8,069 meters (26,465 feet) below sea level. The subduction of the Nazca oceanic plate beneath the South American continental plate generated the abyssal canyon, commonly known as the Peru-Chile Trench. It stretches for 5,900 kilometers (3,666 miles), bordering a considerable portion of the continent’s western side.
Exploring the ocean’s depths necessitates a special submarine capable of withstanding extreme pressures. Vescovo has just what you are looking for. The little submersible, dubbed Limiting Factor has reached the deepest points beneath, although it is far from comfortable. During an interview with IFLScience, adventurer Richard Garriott described the experience of traveling to the Mariana Trench in the submersible early last year.
The voyage to the bottom of the Atacama Trench is about more than just breaking records; it also has crucial scientific goals. This is why Dr. Ulloa, Director of the Instituto Milenio de Oceanografia, was involved (IMO). The IMO is examining the trench’s seabed and depths in detail so that sensors for the Institute’s IDOOS project can be installed in the future (Integrated Deep Ocean Observing System for geoscience research). “It was an honor to accompany Dr. Ulloa on the first human plunge to the bottom of the Atacama Trench.
“It was really great to be able to glide for three hours down the seafloor, personally researching fascinating places with someone who has studied the area for much of their career,” Vescovo, the creator of Caladan Oceanic, said in a statement seen by IFLScience. “For Chilean science, it has been a fantastic day. We were able to firsthand experience the remarkable geological and ecological richness of the Atacama Trench thanks to Victor Vescovo and Caladan Oceanic,” Dr. Ulloa stated.
“Exploring alongside Victor has been a fantastic honor and a fulfilling experience, and we owe a debt of gratitude to him, as well as the entire staff of the submersible Limiting Factor and its support vessel Pressure Drop.” Reaching Richards Deep was just the beginning of a series of dives planned across the Eastern Pacific, all the way to the Mid-American Trench off Mexico’s western coast. The team also identified the trench’s second-deepest location, located 142 kilometers (88 miles) north of Richards Deep, at 7,727 meters (25,350 feet) below sea level. On January 23, Vescovo and Dr. Ruben Escribano paid a visit to this spot.
Despite the tremendous depths, the explorers discovered that life continued to exist. Many holothurians – sometimes known as sea cucumbers or sea pigs – may seen on the ocean floor, where no light had ever reached until the submersible arrived. “We saw some incredible evidence of what appears to be further cases of chemosynthesis in the world’s deep ocean trenches,” Vescovo continued. “Here, however, we noticed long bacterial tendrils growing off of rock faces that never see sunlight and get their energy from minerals and gases seeping from the rocks, all while being surrounded by a cold seawater environment.
