Under the Pole III Expedition Twilight Zones
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| Under the Pole Film Poster |
On August 28 World Crunch ran a report titled “Top Of The World, One Family's Adventures To The North Pole”. The piece spoke about the adventure and exploration of French explorers Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout and Ghislain Bardout -and sons as well as Team of over 100 people supporting a new expedition.
While in the Western World the work of the Team Under the Pole is not that well known in France and Europe they have set high standards in their field. Their accomplishments are not to be underestimated. They are now fully operational in what is their 3rd Under the Pole Expedition. The first one was in the North Pole, Under the Pole II took to Greenland but jumping into ambitious waters the team now is overtaking Under the Pole III a Global Expedition to explore Global Twilight Zones.
Under the Pole depends completely on their Polar Sail Ship WHY. The Sailboat has charted route-plans that stretch until 2020.
“We are driven by a pioneering spirit, the Under The Pole undersea expeditions aim to explore the unknown through a bold approach and continuing innovation. In ten years, the Under The Pole team has succeeded in pushing the limits of polar diving and acquired worldwide recognition. Although past expeditions focused on the Arctic, UTP II will be worldwide,” they explain.
“Innovative and bold expeditions are educational and scientific, telling the story in images, for today and tomorrow, of a world adrift,” they kick it.
The escalation of the Expeditions is incredible. Pushing the boundaries of diving in extreme locations the team is now skilled under the ice. During the first Under the Pole they took on 52 dives in gelid waters. It took them 45 days of stay in the Geographic North Pole. Their goal to “reveal the splendor of the ice caps”. In the way they stumbled with amazing ecology and bioluminescent creatures. By 2014-15 the Second Expedition Under the Pole was full on its way. They extended their stay “Under the Ice” to Twenty-one months in the heart of Greenland. Record dives were registered at astonishing depths of 100 meters under the ice caps. Whatever roams at those depths in those pristine waters, they have witnessed it first hand.
In 2017 and expected to sail until 2020 the Team pushed again their own limits extending the new expedition to 3 years and expanding the area of investigation from Northern latitudes to the entire world. Whatever the Team encountered in the first two expedition was convincing enough for them to take on a focus to unravel new mysteries at the Global Twilight Zones.
The Twilight Zone -known as well as the Mesopelagic is not the deepest abyss of the oceans at all, in fact they are a layer of ocean waters found from the 200 meters of depths to the 1 thousand meters of depths. It is the second zone from the surface. Below it the aphotic zone is found. What makes the Twilight Zone so special? Is the only zone where light penetrates at levels which are insufficient for the production of photosynthesis -mechanisms responsible for the primary food webs in the ocean. Below it in the aphotic zone there is no light at all, above it in the epipelagic zone there is light and photosynthesis, in the middle there is transition of these elements. It considered extremely sensible to global climate and where adaptation begins to reign in ecological waters of altered chemical properties. There is sufficient life in the zone for it to contribute to global cycles.
The expedition got off with a good start but saw some minor obstacles to cross along its first path. Starting off in Arctic waters the Polar Sailboat WHY got stuck on its way from Resolute to Goa Have.
“During 24 hours, we have drifted in a thick sea ice. We barely managed to get out of it and anchored in a sheltered bay before the Northerly wind started to howl. This Northerly blew the ice to the South and cleared a channel of open water for us, allowing us to reach Gjoa Haven,” the team blasted away on its social media sites.
Some days after it was evident that they were back in action, flowing and diving.
On August 30 they reported diving logs. Their focus was Bioluminescence and Biofluorescence. For that they had their own specialist -Scientific Diver Marcel Koken Research Director at the CNRS, specialist in Bioluminescence and Biofluorescence. By his side Cyril Gallut of the Museum of Natural History, specialist in evolution of species took the spotlight.
The expedition is just warming up its engine…
“A team of divers and scientists will sail around the world for three years on board the WHY polar schooner, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, by way of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The goal: to Explore the ecosystems of the Twilight Zone at all latitudes,” the Team says.
Data which they will bring back from the Global expedition will be significant. The expedition will run for 36 months, 80 thousand kilometers -is supported the Ministry of National Education Higher Education and Research, includes 3 fields of research -marine biology, polary systems, divers physiology and will develop 5 features-length documentaries which will be broadcasted internationally as well as take to web broadcasting. National Geographic has already taken them seriously enough to run a double feature in their French Magazine and will broadcast their film material.
Under the Pole III also has some incredible diving innovations. They have scheduled over 500 dives with closed circuit reatheres and will use 3 underwater life capsules which can hold 3 housed divers per capsule and take to massive depths. They take to depths no ordinary diver takes.
Under the Pole also stands apart from other costly expeditions by using Sailboats instead of boats powered by engines. This is really old-school ocean exploration -as it was conducted in the very early stages but it proves to work with grand success. The Polar Sailboat WHY is no regular Sailboat.
“The WHY is the expedition ship, a robust aluminum schooner designed to navigate in seas around the world, from the tropics to the polar regions, or to winter in the ice caps,” the Team is proud of their Sailboat and have a reason for that as well.
It recently took on a 22 month Arctic sail adventure and has taken 2 Atlantic ocean crossings -one during the winter. It has faced freezing sea sprays, a wintering trapped in the ice, thousands of miles of navigation,… and an unfortunate collision with a fisherman’s boat.
After spending sometime in the dry dock the WHY took out better than ever before to sail open oceans. This time it will go around the World. But it is not just the Sailboat which requires special fitting for the new expedition, crew members on ground and on water have undergone rigorous training to face extreme environments.
Ghislain Bardout explains that training for this Expedition ranges from special diving specialities like cave diving to deep sea diving, ice diving, ecology and mountain training.
“Cave diving is a technical discipline that requires heavy, cumbersome equipment, as well as a psychological commitment that goes beyond what you find in ordinary diving. It’s a practice that shares several common elements with polar and deep-sea diving,” Bardout says.
“By stepping outside of our comfort zone, we’re forced to question our knowledge, we build up our resistance to situations of stress, and we thus gain alertness and experience,” he adds.
Regarding the need for training in mountain environments when facing an ocean expedition Bardout explained.
“This preparation (Mountain Training) has multiple dimensions: it is material, technical, logistical, scientific, financial and, of course, human… And the more daring a project is, the more rigorous preparation has to be. Spending a week in the mountains as a team, as we have just done, allows us to operate in a totally different working environment: the teams intermix, daily life is disrupted, relationships are created in an unusual setting.”
For Bardout it is all about sharing, sharing with the rest of the World. “I think they found the world of Under The Pole very inspiring. The passion that drives us, the family dimension, and our desire to share it with as many people as possible caught their attention. Under The Pole shares values such as: freedom, self-improvement, courage, passion, and respect for nature”.
Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout -leader and Bardout´s Wife agrees on the importance of sharing. "Sharing is in the DNA of what we are doing".
Under the Pole III again takes to extremes which some might call hostile environments.
....but Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout and Ghislain Bardout assure that there is no place else which they would rather be.
