{"id":42534,"date":"2014-07-01T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T19:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=40523"},"modified":"2014-07-12T15:07:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T15:07:25","slug":"epic-mission-31-night-dive-unlocks-secrets-inner-space-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/epic-mission-31-night-dive-unlocks-secrets-inner-space-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Mission 31 Night Dive Unlocks Secrets Of \u201cInner Space\u201d (videos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Underwate<\/a> Underwater habitat at Aquarius Reef Base (photo provided to Flickr\u00a0<\/em>courtesy of Stephen Frink, www.stephenfrink.com\/)<\/em><\/p>\n

On July 2, 2014, ocean scientists who have spent the last 31 days living in an ocean-floor habitat 63 feet underwater will decompress and return to the surface. They\u2019ve been down there on \u201cMission 31\u201d<\/a> intensively studying ocean acidification and climate change, pollution from plastics, and overconsumption of ocean resources and the related decline in biodiversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re basically using the ocean as a garbage can.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So says Fabien Cousteau<\/strong>, grandson of legendary underwater explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau<\/em>, who has led the expedition. Normally upbeat, he deplores the degradation of the seas by human activities. Liz Magee, a team member and a research diver with Northeastern University, explains what Mission 31 is trying to do about it. For example:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are beautiful giant sponges right outside the habitat. Some could be thousands of years old. Some call them redwoods of the reef. And we’re setting up sensors inside them to measure such variables as oxygen and temperature, so we’ll be able to understand what happens with rising acidity of the water and its impacts on the sponges. It will also help us better understand the activity of these sponges.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As well as its investigative role, Mission 31 also celebrates half a century since Conshelf II<\/em>, the 30-day Red Sea living experiment in 1963 that Jacques Cousteau held and filmed for an Oscar-winning documentary, World Without Sun<\/em>. The 2014 dive is one day longer and 30 feet deeper. Decompression from full blood nitrogen saturation at this depth takes about 18 and a half hours. Without decompressing, divers can contract the painful or fatal \u201cbends.\u201d Living at saturation has allowed Cousteau\u2019s team to dive as long as needed or as long as they want, up to nine hours.<\/p>\n

PlanetSave<\/a> covered the beginning of the Mission 31 dive at the end of May. We thought resurfacing also merited some attention. Here\u2019s one of the most spectacular products of grandson Cousteau\u2019s underwater sojourn at Aquarius Reef Base<\/a>, operated by Florida International University nine miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. In the video, one of 32 released to date, two of the Mission 31 saturation divers\u2014Adam Zenone and Andy Shantz\u2014document a fascinating night dive in their backyard below the sea. They call the expedition an “Inner Spacewalk.\u201d Kip Evans handled the camera.<\/p>\n