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Essay On Challenger Deep

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Nicho Evans
Professor Petretto
Chronicles of the Sea
7 December 2015

Exploring the Deep Sea Pitch black, dead quiet and seemingly desolate, the deep sea resembles that of a far off alien world. Until recent advancements in technology, little to none has been known about the deep sea. Far beyond the natural reach of humans, only highly expensive submersibles have visited the ocean’s deepest and darkest locations. In the Pacific Northwest, an eerie 7-mile venture underwater will take you to the deepest spot on the planet, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Challenger Deep was given it’s name after the British survey ship, Challenger II, which recorded the location’s depth with an echo-sounder in 1951 (About the Mariana). Although the Challenger II is recognized as the first vessel to obtain a near accurate depth recording, Mariana Trench was actually first discovered by the H.M.S Challenger’s expedition in the 1870’s (About the Mariana). …show more content…

Each of these layers decreases in sunlight and temperature as depth increases. On average, sunlight fades away in seawater at approximately 200 meters deep. With no sunlight to heat the water, temperatures plummet at depth, leaving the water at Challenger Deep just a few degrees above freezing. On top of having no sunlight and near freezing conditions, the deep sea also possesses pressure unlike anywhere else on earth. Opposite to climbing a mountain and experiencing a decrease in pressure, in the ocean pressure increases the deeper one goes, due to the weight of the water above. At Challenger Deep, the weight of nearly 7 miles of water above causes the pressure to reach 8 tons per square inch (About the Mariana). In spite of these brutal conditions, life still has found a way to thrive at these great

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