September 27, 2019

Last month, on August 24, the American undersea explorer Victor Vescovo reached the Molloy Deep (also known as the Molloy Hole), the deepest point—some 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) beneath the surface—of the Arctic Ocean. Upon completion of the dive, Vescovo became the first person to dive to the deepest parts of all five of the world’s oceans. Over the previous 10 months, Vescovo’s Five Deeps Expedition had reached the ultimate bottoms of the Atlantic, Southern, Indian, and Pacific oceans.

American explorer Victor Vescovo and the Five Deeps team discuss the South Sandwich Trench near Antarctica on Feb. 3, 2019. Credit: © The Five Deeps Expedition

Victor Vescovo was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1966. He developed a love of the ocean as a 20-year officer in the United States Navy Reserve. At the same time, he made a fortune as a private businessman. Vescovo’s taste for adventure pushed him to climb the highest peaks on each of the world’s continents—including Asia’s Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. He has also skied to the North and South poles and is an airplane and helicopter pilot.

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The Five Deeps Expedition reached the five deepest points of the world’s oceans. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by Brenda Tropinski; © Best Backgrounds/Shutterstock

Having conquered the world’s summits, Vescovo planned the Five Deeps Expedition to explore its depths. Vescovo and his company Caladan Oceanic put together a team of engineers, scientists, and experienced sea personnel. Caladan’s specially designed submersible, Limiting Factor, made the deep dives, supported by the surface vessel Pressure Drop. A submersible is an undersea vessel used for oceanographic research and exploration.

On April 2, 2019, the Five Deeps submersible Limiting Factor rests on the surface of the Indian Ocean behind the support ship Pressure Drop. Credit: © The Five Deeps Expedition

Five Deeps began in December 2018 at the Bronson Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean. (A deep is an ocean area with a depth of more than 18,000 feet [5,490 meters]). Vescovo set an Atlantic record by diving alone in Limiting Factor to a depth of 27,480 feet (8,376 meters). (Mount Everest goes 29,035 feet [8,850 meters] in the other direction.) Two months later, in February 2019, Vescovo and his team took Pressure Drop near the coast of Antarctica above the South Sandwich Trench in the Southern Ocean. Vescovo then set a Southern Ocean record by diving solo to a depth of 24,390 feet (7,434 meters). (Determining exact depths can be tricky, but after the Five Deeps numbers are verified, they will slightly redefine the landscape of the world’s ocean bottoms.)

In April, Five Deeps headed to the Indian Ocean and the Java Trench (also called the Sunda Trench) near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Vescovo took Limiting Factor to a depth of 23,596 feet (7,192 meters) in the Indian Ocean, and captured film of a new species of hadal snailfish (a type of sea snail) and other deep bottom-dwelling creatures. The crew then took Pressure Drop above Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, an underwater depression in the Pacific Ocean that is the deepest known spot in the world. There, in May, Vescovo set a record for the deepest ever dive, reaching 35,853 feet (10,927 meters) into Challenger Deep’s eastern pool. The previous depth record was set at Challenger Deep in 1960 by the U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and the Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard, who dived 35,797 feet (10,911 meters) beneath the ocean surface in the bathyscaph (a special diving craft) Trieste. Vescovo discovered three new species of marine animals on his voyage to the bottom of Challenger Deep—along with pieces of plastic trash and other signs of pollution.

In 1960, Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard (center) descended into the Mariana Trench with Lieutenant Don Walsh (front) of the United States Navy. Credit: Steve Nicklas, NOS/NGS

The Five Deeps Expedition explored another Pacific deep point in June, diving 35,509 feet (10,823 meters) to the bottom of the Tonga Trench’s Horizon Deep. And then in early August, while traveling through the North Atlantic on the way to the Arctic, Five Deeps visited the watery grave of the ill-fated ocean liner Titanic, some 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) beneath the waves. A couple weeks later, the team reached the Molloy Trench off the coast of Norway, where Vescovo made the final dive. The Five Deeps Expedition, whose motto was In Profundo: Cognitio (Latin for In the Deeps: Knowledge), wrapped up in September.

The Five Deeps Expedition traveled more than 46,000 miles (74,000 kilometers), discovered several new species of marine animals, and mapped over 116,000 square miles (300,000 square kilometers) of sea floor. In addition to the piloted dives, the Five Deeps team deployed robotic deep-sea landers in several locations. The expedition also recorded over 500 hours of video that will be made into the Discovery Channel documentary series “Deep Planet,” scheduled to air in 2020.

October 20, 2017

On Monday, October 16, tropical storm Ophelia roared through the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, killing three people in Ireland and causing damage in parts of the United Kingdom. Ophelia, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in that part of the Atlantic, was an unusual occurrence. The last such storm to reach Ireland, Hurricane Debbie, killed 11 people on the island in 1961.

Tropical storm Ophelia slammed the coasts of Ireland and Wales on Oct. 16, 2017. This photo shows Ophelia-driven waves battering the sea wall at Porthcawl in southern Wales. Credit: © Leighton Collins, Shutterstock

Major Atlantic storms typically form in waters off the central and southern coasts of west Africa. Trade winds then carry them westward toward the Caribbean Sea and the southeastern United States. Ophelia began as a cluster of storms farther north, gathering strength near the Azores before driving northeast toward Europe. Classified as a mid-strength Category 3 hurricane, Ophelia was the strongest-ever storm that far east in the Atlantic Ocean. Downgraded to a tropical storm on its jet stream-led course to Ireland, Ophelia remained dangerous. Ireland’s national weather service issued a red alert for severe weather, warning of “violent and destructive gusts” and “potential loss of life.”

This satellite image shows Ophelia coiling over Ireland on Oct. 16, 2017. Credit: NASA

The storm made landfall in Ireland on Monday morning with wind gusts of 109 miles (176 kilometers) per hour at Fastnet Rock, the country’s most southerly point. Torrential rains lashed the southwestern counties of Cork and Kerry, where schools, businesses, public buildings, and hospitals were closed ahead of the storm. Public transportation ceased running in much of Ireland, ferries and flights were canceled, and people were warned to stay indoors.

Ophelia quickly swamped all of the Republic of Ireland, whipping Wales hard too across the Irish Sea. Electric power was lost in many areas of both Ireland and Wales, trees were blown down (causing all three of the deaths in Ireland), rooftops were ripped away, and storm surges breached sea walls in many places. Winds and heavy rains then hit Northern Ireland and Scotland as Ophelia raced back out to sea, dissipating but still carrying severe weather as far as Norway. (The United Kingdom is divided among the political divisions of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England.)

Ophelia affected other areas, too. In Portugal and Spain, strong winds from the storm fanned wildfires that killed 44 people. Ophelia blew smoke from the fires—and dust from Sahara sandstorms—over England, where the London sky turned an eerie smoky orange. Ophelia was the 10th hurricane of a busy and deadly 2017 Atlantic storm season. Ophelia’s rare path illustrates how rising global temperatures are expanding the range of powerful storms around the world.

April 14, 2017

An unusually high number of dangerous icebergs have drifted into busy shipping lanes of the North Atlantic Ocean over the past month, prompting warnings from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and other international agencies. More than 450 icebergs, many large enough to sink a ship, have been sighted in the past weeks, about five times the average for this time of year. Ships are warned to sail well south of their normal course to avoid the huge iceberg field.

Icebergs like these are crowding shipping lanes in the North Atlantic Ocean. Credit: © Thinkstock

An iceberg is a huge mass of ice that has calved (broken off) from a glacier or ice shelf and is floating in water. Icebergs are much larger below the water than above it, and they can pose a great danger to ships that come too close. The hard ice can easily tear open the steel hull of a ship that strikes it. At least one cargo ship has already reported a close encounter with an iceberg this month.

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Icebergs form where chunks of ice break away from a glacier as it flows into the sea. The sun and wind melt the top of an iceberg. The bottom, which is under water, melts much more slowly. As the top melts away, leaving the bottom hidden beneath the surface, the iceberg becomes extremely dangerous to ships. Credit: WORLD BOOK diagrams by Marion Pahl

The unusual iceberg hazard in the North Atlantic recalls the conditions that led to the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912—105 years ago today. The Titanic sank after colliding with a large iceberg in the same region. More than 1,500 people, including many wealthy and famous passengers, went down with the ship.

The Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 14, 1912, and sank within hours. Credit: © AP/Wide World

The USCG International Ice Patrol, which was created in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, uses satellites to track large icebergs in the region. The agency has observed that the icebergs clogging the North Atlantic shipping lanes today mostly calved from glaciers in Greenland. Many climate scientists think the dramatic increase in icebergs may be a result of climate change. Warmer conditions than normal have weakened ice fields in Greenland, leading to an increased rate of iceberg calving. Strong winds and currents then push the icebergs about, causing some to drift into the heavily trafficked shipping lanes.