本日2020年2月27日(木)に、教授が主務とするサウジアラビアの大学KAUSTで、コアラボ主催の講演会がありました。1万メートル以上の海底に4度以上も特殊潜水艇で潜ったことのあるビクター・ベスコボ (Victor Vescovo )氏が、海洋の５ヶ所の最深海底に潜るという探検を2019年10月に成功させた後、紅海の海底に潜るという挑戦に来たため、これに合わせてKAUSTでの講演会が行われたのでした。
以下は、
https://fivedeeps.com/home/team/crew/victor/
からの引用です。
「The Five Deeps Expedition is the brainchild of extreme explorer Victor Vescovo who will pilot the submersible on its solo and two-person dives. 」
「In 2017, Victor became the 12th American to complete the ‘Explorers Grand Slam’ which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world’s continents including Mt. Everest, and skiing at least 100 kilometers to both the North and South Poles. He is also an accomplished pilot of jet fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and, most recently, manned submersibles.」
「In 2019, Victor could become the first person in history to have been to the top of all the world’s continents as well as the bottom of all its oceans.」
wikipediaで「Victor Vescovo」氏の記述は以下の通りです。
「Victor Lance Vescovo (born 1966) is an American private equity investor, retired naval officer, and undersea explorer. He is a co-founder and managing partner of private equity company Insight Equity Holdings. He is the first person to have reached the deepest points of four of the Earth's five oceans during the Five Deeps Expedition of 2018–2019.」
「Vescovo grew up in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University, a master's degree in Defense and Arms Control Studies (Political Science) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker scholar.」
「In 2018, Vescovo launched the Five Deeps expedition, whose objective was to thoroughly map and visit the bottom of all five of the world's oceans by the end of September 2019.[3][4] This objective was achieved one month ahead of schedule, and the expedition's team successfully carried out biological samplings and depth confirmations at each location. Besides the deepest points of the five world oceans, the expedition also made dives in the Horizon Deep and the Sirena Deep, and mapped the Diamantina Fracture Zone.」
「In December 2018, he became the first person to reach the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean, piloting DSV Limiting Factor, a reported US$50 million submarine system (Triton 36000/2) – including its support ship the DSSV Pressure Drop and its three ultra-deep-sea robotic landers – 8,376 m (27,480 ft) below the ocean surface to the base of the Puerto Rico Trench, an area subsequently referred to by world media as Brownson Deep.」
「On February 4, 2019, he became the first person to reach the bottom of the Southern Ocean, in the southern portion of the South Sandwich Trench. For this attempt, the expedition used a Kongsberg EM124 multibeam sonar system − the most advanced in civilian use at the time − to achieve the most accurate mapping of the trench to date.」
「On April 16, 2019, Vescovo dived to the bottom of the Sunda Trench south of Bali, reaching the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Likewise, this was done aboard the Limiting Factor. The team reported sightings of what they believed to be entirely new species, including a hadal snailfish and a gelatinous organism believed to be a stalked Ascidean. The same dive was later undertaken by Patrick Lahey, President of Triton Submarines, and the expedition's chief scientist, Dr. Alan Jamieson. This dive was organised subsequent to the scanning of the Diamantina Fracture Zone using multibeam sonar, confirming that the Sunda Trench was deeper and settling the debate about where the deepest point in the Indian Ocean is.」
