Robot Submarine Maps World's Deepest Sinkhole

holy_calamity writes "The world's deepest water-filled sinkhole has finally been mapped — by a robotic submarine whose descendants may one day swim on one of Jupiter's moons. The last attempt to find the bottom resulted in the SCUBA diving depth record and the death of a diving legend. The sub's sonar found that the divers had descended to only about 10m from the floor. The sub's mapping also indicated that the sinkhole, which is over 300m deep, could connect to even deeper caves."

Comments

Re:Mel's Hole?

[ricree]

I know that wikipedia isn't exactly the world's most reliable source, but why in the heck hasn't that article been deleted yet.

Deep Diving Risks

[wildsurf]

This reminds me of the amazing (and sobering) story of Dave Shaw, who perished in a deep freshwater cavern trying to recover the body of a fellow diver. Quite a read, if you have 20 minutes.

Re:Deep Diving Risks

[Joaz Banbeck]

Quite a sad tale as I recall. Shows the dangers of nitrogen narcosis. Makes your judgement horrible.

Shaw made one serious mistake: he had a plan, and when something went wrong - the corpse's head came off - he tried to modify the plan at 800+ ft below, instead of going up to safety and making a new plan. ( Can't say I would have done better, though )

Re:Deep Diving Risks

[Comatose51]

I'm not sure if people like him needs anyone to feel sorry for or to even pass any judgment on him. From the article, his friends certainly didn't. They accepted the fact and that was it. He accepted the risks and knew that there's always an element of chance. His luck ran out and he's dead. There's a great deal of stoicism that I admire in people like that. If all of us waited until all the conditions were 100% right, nothing amazing will ever be achieved.

Re:Mel's Hole?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

I know that wikipedia isn't exactly the world's most reliable source, but why in the heck hasn't that article been deleted yet.

For the same reason that articles on Leprechauns or the Piltdown Man aren't deleted. So someone can go & read about them, find out they're not real things, and the read the story of how the hoax/myth/whatever was perpetutated.

Re:Holy shit, that is deep....

[Fuji Kitakyusho]

Crazy. I've done ~380 fsw on trimix, with four different decompression gases, and it was a logistical headache. I know that one team has done the Edmund Fitzgerald on SCUBA, but at those depths the logistical issues, risks and costs escalate to the point that you have to wonder what you are gaining over surface supported surface supply or saturation diving - a much safer option than SCUBA. Stunts like the one Sheck pulled, or those by Jim Bowden, etc., are nothing more than showboating for the sake of setting records. Problem is, the record you set might not be the one you were shooting for. (Most preventable death award goes to...)

With trimix being so accessable now, it doesn't make any sense to me why anyone would continue to endanger themselves by doing deep dives on air. Actually, considering the widespread availability of nitrox, using air for any diving whatsoever doesn't really make sense anymore. I don't.

As for 1000' deep sinkholes, using a ROV is probably the right idea.

Re:Why not for this one?

[Zeussy]

Its not the depth, its the fact that its a sinkhole. uncharted at that, you need a ROV that can work in an enclosed space and create a map to know where it is accurately and how to get back.