Tag Archives: Mariana Trench

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Last January, we profiled the profiled the epic attempt by three teams of modern-day explorers to reach the ocean’s deepest point – the first attempt in over 50 years.  One team was lead by Cameron, another by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, owner of the 32 meter (111 foot) luxury yacht charter vessel NECKER BELLE, and a third team by a Florida sub manufacturer, Patrick Lahey.

THE BLOG CONTINUES

In March, 2012, Cameron bested Branson  and the underdog Lahey in a race to be the first explorer of the ocean deadliest trench in half a century.  Cameron plunged about seven miles to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific ocean.  Specifically where temperatures are near freezing and the bone-crushing pressure is one thousand times greater than that at sea level.

HOW HAS THE FILMMAKER NOW HELPED?

Cameron donated the sub.  But that’s not all.  Additionally, Cameron will give nearly $1 million to help WHOI scientists and engineers.  The funds enable them to avail the sub’s technology for deep-sea exploration.

“We’ve been sure to fund this enough that there are enough people and resources available to write this up, publish it, and therefore have it available,” Cameron said during a recent roundtable discussion in New York City with WHOI scientists. “To me, that’s an infinitely better outcome than [the sub] sitting dormant until I’m done with my next two movies, and maybe it comes to the tech community five or six years down the line when it’s already obsolete.”