Five miles under the water, one of most remote places on planet, Scots diver Alan discovers a new species tethered to the sea bed ..never seen before by human eyes
Expert tells of extraordinary find
A SCOTS marine scientist has become the deepest diving Brit in history.
Dr Alan Jamieson, 41, plunged 23,596ft to find undiscovered species including a jelly-like “sea squirt” in an eight-hour mission.
As chief scientist on the Five Deeps Expedition, he reached one of the most isolated place on the planet – the deepest point of the Java Trench in the Indian Ocean, about 100 nautical miles south of the island of Bali.
Led by US deep sea pioneer Victor Vescovo, the expedition travelled more than 7180m – almost five miles – to the ocean floor in a two-man submarine.
It took two-and-a-half hours to get there and they captured remarkable footage of what are believed to be new species, as yet unseen by humans.
This included hadal snailfish, and an extraordinary stalked ascidean, known as a sea squirt, which lives attached to the sea floor, which is unlike anything ever seen before.
Sadly, the team also uncovered the first evidence of manmade fibres and plastic in the guts of crustaceans, some of the deepest living organisms on Earth, showing man-made pollution has now reached the outer limits of our planet.
Alan, senior lecturer in marine ecology at Newcastle University, said: “It is not often we see something so extraordinary that it leaves us speechless.
“Among many other rare and unique observations, the stalked ascidean was a really significant moment.
“We are not entirely sure what species it was, we will find out in due course. This really demonstrated the scientific capability of the submersible.
“You are five miles down and it is absolutely stunning. It has been filmed down there (using remotely operated vehicles) but it is so different when you actually get to see it.”
He described the mission as a “big moment” for hadal science, which studies a zone of the sea greater than 19, 600ft in depth.
Alan, who was born in Largs and spent most of his childhood in Edinburgh before working in Aberdeen for 20 years, added: “I have spent my entire life studying the deep sea. This was the first time hadal snailfish had been seen with my own eyes.
“This particular family of fish are only found in this trench and I knew if we saw any fish down here, we would be the first to have seen them. “Sure enough, after 20 minutes at the bottom, there they were.” The sub, 13ft high by 13ft wide, has a titanium ball at the bottom which carries the two crew – Alan was with Patrick Lahey, president of Triton submarines, which made the vessel. It is named Limiting Factor, while its mother ship is Pressure Drop, inspired by the work of the late Scottish crime and science fiction writer Iain Banks. They are valued at £36.8million. “We can now do more, access more places than with any other marine vehicle in the world – including remotely-operated vehicles – at these extreme depths,” added Alan, a dad-ofthree. “Any anxiety about diving that far down is completely overshadowed by the excitement of what we are going to do.
“The great thing about this sub is that every single nut and bolt is certified by a German company. The guy who owns the company was the pilot – you just have to put your life in their hands.”
Newcastle University scientists and engineers have been pioneering technology for the exploration of ultra-deep environments for five years.
To date, they have completed more than 250 deployments of their novel “lander” systems.
The team is the first to take a manned, commercially certified submersible vessel farther and deeper than any in history.
So far, the expedition has resulted in the first descent to the bottom of the Indian Ocean, the most solo dives deeper than 23,000ft made by Vescovo and the first descent to the absolute bottom of the Java trench.
They have discovered at least four new species of life and their work has been filmed by The Discovery Channel for a forthcoming documentary.