- Scientists have revealed plans to build a 660ft-deep base off the coast of Wales
- The base will present scientists prolonged entry to the ‘epipelagic zone’
The thought of residing underneath water for a month is sufficient to fill any claustrophobe with dread – nevertheless it may grow to be a actuality in simply three years if this new design is something to go by.
Scientists from DEEP Research Labs, an ocean know-how and exploration agency, have revealed plans to build a base 660ft under the floor off the coast of Wales the place researchers may stay for up to 28 days at a time.
The base, referred to as Sentinel, would offer scientists prolonged entry to the ‘epipelagic zone’, the place 90 per cent of marine life is assumed to be discovered.
DEEP stated: ‘Being ready to comprehensively discover the full extent of this half of the ocean quite than simply performing incursions from the floor will characterize a step-change in the manner scientists can observe, monitor, and perceive the oceans.’
The epipelagic zone is commonly referred to as the daylight zone, and extends from the floor down to 660ft (200m).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington DC defined: ‘It is on this zone that the majority of the seen gentle exists.
‘With that daylight comes warmth from solar, which is answerable for broad variations in temperature throughout this zone, each with the seasons and latitudes. Sea floor temperatures vary from as excessive as 97F (36C) in the Persian Gulf to 28F (-2C) close to the North Pole.’
While scientists can discover this zone on submersibles, these can usually solely keep underneath water for hours at a time.
To give researchers extra prolonged entry to this zone, DEEP proposes constructing a everlasting base off the west coast of the UK.
DEEP president Steve Etherton stated: ‘We want to protect the oceans. To do this we want to perceive them.
‘The oceans sit at the centre of many of the generational challenges the world is going through, they usually additionally provide alternatives we’ve got not even begun to comprehend.
‘They are the supply of at the very least each different breath we take. They affect the climate. They affect the local weather.
‘They affect us. Yet, this life-sustaining ecosystem stays surprisingly unknown.
‘Through our revolutionary know-how DEEP will allow scientists to function at depth for prolonged durations of time and we hope, in some small manner, will contribute to our understanding of this life-giving setting.’
Images of the design reveal how the base will characteristic a central ‘nice corridor’, with labs in a mezzanine ground above it.
Scientists will stay in personal bedrooms that includes a single mattress with storage in-built to the body and a small aspect desk, whereas their bogs have a reasonably spacious bathe, alongside a bathroom and sink.
Meanwhile, the galley has a eating desk, easy kitchen and huge home windows searching throughout the sea ground.
DEEP hopes its first base might be off the coast of the South West and Wales, though the actual location stays unclear.
This space was chosen as a result of of the ‘distinctive cluster of related marine engineering, diving, hyperbaric and submersible experience, and hyperlinks with the wider UK industrial and technical diving trade,’ DEEP stated.
It additionally stays unclear how a lot the base will value to build. MailOnline has requested DEEP for extra particulars of the challenge.