Russian divers take record-breaking plunge into Antarctic volcano (watch video)
A team of Russian divers from the expedition ‘Antarctica 100’ have dived 97 meters into the crater of an active Antarctic volcano. The seabed plunge in extremely cold water marked a world record, and served as an important test of diving techniques.
The expedition departed on a sailing boat from the Argentinian port Ushuaia to the Southern Shetland Islands in early December, with the aim of devising new methods of safe diving in cold waters and testing new experimental equipment for diving.
The team reached its destination – Deception Island, which is a caldera of an active volcano – after several days of sailing, but was then faced with a severe storm.
Due to the bad weather, the divers only had eight hours to carry out their long and complicated dive.
Aiming for a depth of 100 meters, the explorers reached the seabed at the 97 meter mark.
“The current depth record for diving in Antarctica is 20m. No one has dived deeper. We have beaten that twice – 97m and 45m deep,” said team leader Dmitry Schiller.
The divers remained at the volcano’s deepest depth for five minutes, which gave them enough time to test equipment and take samples from the seabed. The temperature of the water was -3°C. It took the team 71 minutes to ascend due to deco stops.
The second dive was made only an hour later.
The expedition managed to test a new regulator and dive-computer, both of which were designed and produced in Russia.
However, the team members said the toughest challenge for them was not the dive itself – but their journey back.
“We had to pass through an ice field of small icebergs which almost cannot be seen,” Shiller said. “We had to turn away from them and we could not stop as we were on a sailing boat. Those three days were the toughest.”
The team consisted of 10 people; the youngest was 18-year-old Valery Saleyev, and the oldest was Andrey Filippov, 48.
Saleyev used the opportunity to take a selfie while making his deep dive.
Although the team has made a request for Guinness World Records to record their dive, their achievement has already been recognized by CMAS, which the team members say is recognition that is much more important for them.
Source: rt.com
Photos: Rustem Gilmutdinov
