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ENVIRONMENT: A New Nautilus

Julio Godoy* - Tierramérica

PARIS, Nov 9 2005 (IPS) - The SeaOrbiter looks like a strange marine giant, straight from the imagination of author Jules Verne. A silent vessel with no engine, it measures 51 metres high, floats half-submerged, and will travel the Atlantic Ocean’s currents to study marine life and pollution.

Unlike the Nautilus submarine, imagined by Verne in the 19th century in his book “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, and unlike other modern underwater exploration vehicles that have to return regularly to the surface, the SeaOrbiter will be able to observe the ocean 24 hours a day, with 31 metres of its structure always beneath the water.

The SeaOrbiter will carry an 18-person crew who will spend three months in 2008 studying the effects of contamination on the ocean’s ecosystems, the role of the marine currents, and even the behaviour of species in the presence of this enormous, nearly silent object.

The creator of the project, French architect and oceanographer Jacques Rougerie, says the main objective of the mission is to bring the attention of the general public to the sea and to the threats it faces.

“My principal goal is educational: give people the chance to learn a little more about the sea,” Rougerie told Tierramérica in a conversation at his offices in Paris, set up on a ship anchored in the River Seine, just metres from the Place de la Concorde.

“The SeaOrbiter will have a team of oceanographers and environmentalists, with high-quality technical equipment to analyse the presence of carbon dioxide in the seawater and its dissemination by the currents,” he said.

The floating laboratory’s crew will be able to study the salinity of the ocean’s waters, the dynamics of the different currents, the rates of changes in the populations of species, and many other questions.

Rougerie’s vessel will have cameras and microphones operated by remote control to record images and sounds 600 metres deep. All of the video and sound recorded will be made available to the public in real time, thanks to high-speed Internet connection.

The expert came up with the idea for the SeaOrbiter four years ago as part of his efforts to study marine contamination. He fears that because of their global currents, the ocean waters will become an uncontrollable vector for contaminants and even viruses.

“As we can see today with the bird flu epidemic, there are mutating viruses,” said Rougerie. “There is the possibility that a virus could adapt to a marine organism, and that would constitute an ecological and health catastrophe of global dimensions, given the dynamic of the marine currents.”

The SeaOrbiter will travel guided by the current of warm water that flows through the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico towards the European coast over three months, beginning in the northern hemisphere summer of 2008, and will operate as a permanent sentry of marine biology.

In its 31-metre submerged portion, the vehicle will have a pressurised section that will allow the crew to exit the craft underwater directly in case any unexpected action or test becomes necessary, without having to undergo the long sessions of decompression normally associated with scuba diving.

Because the living conditions aboard a vessel like this are comparable to those of a spaceship, the SeaOrbiter could serve as a training base for astronauts.

Participating in the design of the vessel and its mission are several astronauts from the United States, including Scott Carpenter, one of the first to navigate in outer space, and Bill Todd, head of the research programme of the U.S. space agency NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO.

The portion of the SeaOrbiter that is above sea level, measuring more than 20 metres high, will operate at normal land pressure.

Because the SeaOrbiter doesn’t have any engines, except for a few thrusters, it will be carried by ocean currents, and its submerged surface could turn into habitat for several living species, because all kinds of marine species are attracted to floating objects, from microorganisms to some relatively large fish.

This will allow the crew to study marine life under these special conditions and add themselves to the epics of ocean exploration, like the shipwrecked Pacific expedition of the Astrolab of Le Perouse in 1785, or the Glomar Challenger science vessel, which in the 1970s perforated the ocean floor.

The SeaOrbiter project is an association of private companies and the oceanographic institutes of Marintek, in Norway and Paris.

(* Julio Godoy is an IPS correspondent. Originally published Nov. 5 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)