Some people look to colonize the moon and Mars. Others see the world's oceans as our next frontier. For every enormous collection of information we gather about our deep seas, there are even more massive amount of mysteries and unknown, or inexplicable, phenomena.
French oceanographer Fabien Cousteau is one such person, working throughout his life to promote ocean conservation and living up to his family name. Well, he just surpassed that name, as he recently emerged from a record-breaking 31-day mission underwater, off the coast of Florida.
Cousteau and a team of researchers and filmmakers lived in a bus-sized underwater tank to conduct marine life research and ocean conservation promotion. As per Cousteau, living in an underwater lab allowed researchers to collect many months' worth of data in only a few weeks. They tested new underwater technologies, studied predator-prey interactions, and conducted experiments on reefs to understand the effects of climate change and pollution.
In a press release prior to the "splashdown" on June 1, Cousteau said, "The overarching theme for Mission 31 is the human-ocean connection within the lens of exploration and discovery."
The oceanographer's grandfather was Jacques Cousteau, renowned ocean explorer who helped in the advancement of diving techniques. Cousteau and the rest of the "Mission 31" crew used these diving techniques to explore the area around the Aquarius Reef Base, the 460-square-foot pressurized lab in which they lived. Cousteau's grandfather also lived underwater in a pressurized tank, for 30 days, while filming his Oscar-award-winning documentary "World Without Sun."
The Aquarius Reef Base also hosted researchers and filmmakers from Florida International University, Northeastern University and MIT. The Aquarius is a government-owned lab located 63 feet underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
With people constantly coming and going through the four weeks, the lab may have become crowded at times-but it was certainly cushy. The lab has a kitchen, a shower, six beds and Wi-Fi. There were no malfunctions or discomforts except for a glitch in the air conditioning system one night; a researcher commented saying it reached 95 degree with 95 percent humidity that evening.
When spending long amounts of time underwater, divers are prone to suffering from "the bends," or decompression sickness, in which bubbles form in the body causing joint pain, neurological symptoms, and sometimes skin swelling. Cousteau and his crew had to spend 16 hours undergoing decompression to return to land without developing the sickness. It was time well spent, as they emerged from the ocean on July 2 in good health and full of new knowledge.
More details and anecdotes about Mission 31 can be found on the mission's "Dove Blog."
