Extreme environment challenges rescue team of missing submersible

The terrain of the seabed, the depth and the pressure are so great that the search and rescue work of the submersible carrying 5 passengers to visit the Titanic wreckage is extremely difficult.

OceanGate Expeditions' Titan submersible. Photo: CTV — OceanGate Expeditions' Titan submersible. Photo: *CTV*

Rescuers searching for the missing submersible while visiting the Titanic wreck not only have to race against time as oxygen levels on the ship are running low, but they also have to contend with a harsh environment that is more like space than Earth, according to NBC . "It's pitch black and freezing cold down there. The sea floor is muddy and bumpy. You can't see your hand in front of your face," said historian and Titanic expert Tim Maltin. "It's a bit like an astronaut in space."

The 22-foot-long deep-sea submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions disappeared on June 18 with five passengers on board, prompting a search and rescue mission in the northern Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles (644 kilometers) off Newfoundland, Canada. But unlike space, the human presence in the deep sea is rare and the technology for search and rescue missions is limited.

Coast Guard officials estimated that by the afternoon of March 20, the remaining oxygen on the missing submersible was only enough for about 40 hours. The US Coast Guard is coordinating with the Navy and Canadian partners to conduct the search. Several civilian vessels have also sailed to the area to help. The French government announced that it would send ships equipped with deep-sea submersibles to assist in the search and rescue efforts.

The amount of oxygen on board is the most stressful part of the search, but it’s not the only challenge, says Jamie Pringle, a professor of geoscience at Keele University in the UK. Navigating at extreme depths is difficult because the seafloor is much rougher than on land. The Titanic, which sank more than a century ago, lies at a depth of about 12,000 feet. The ocean floor is not flat, but has hillsides and deep canyons, says Pringle. If the submersible gets stuck on the seafloor, it will be very difficult to locate it.

Even the search around the Titanic wreckage is difficult because the area is so vast. The Coast Guard said on March 20 that the search is focused on an area of the North Pacific Ocean the size of Connecticut. There are very few vessels and equipment that can work at such great depths. The vehicles need to be designed to withstand extreme depths and pressures.

At the depths of the Titanic wreck, the pressure is about 400 times greater than at sea level, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Some military nuclear submarines can dive as deep as 1,600 feet, but most modern submarines operate in much shallower waters. Few vehicles can dive thousands of feet, said Henry Hargrove, a senior analyst who spent 11 years in the U.S. Navy.

Rescuers have deployed several C-130 aircraft to conduct aerial surveys of the area, and sonar buoys that can pick up signals as deep as 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) are also being used to search underwater. However, sonar systems typically need to scan at greater depths to detect objects as small as submersibles inside the Titanic wreckage, according to Pringle.

Pringle said it was difficult to speculate about what might have happened to the missing submersible. It was also unclear whether rescue vessels could be deployed to such great depths in time or how the process of recovering the stranded submersible would proceed. Submersibles like the OceanGate Expeditions Titan typically do not have a mechanism in their hull that another vessel could hook onto and tow.

An Khang (According to NBC )

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