Two famous Russian deep-sea subs equipped with
cutting-edge technology are exploring the depths of Switzerland's
Lake Geneva.
On Tuesday, two subs – MIR-1 (Peace-1) and MIR-2 (Peace-2) have
completed their first dive. The two vessels appeared above
the water 30 minutes apart.
“The dive went well. We plunged to a depth of 296 meters. Though
the visibility was really bad – about one meter,” said Russian
specialist Anatoly Sagalevich of Russia's Shirshov Institute of
Oceanology, which owns the MIR submersibles.
Up to the end of August, subs will dive daily into the depths of
the second largest lake in Central Europe, on the Swiss-French
border. They will test just how clean the water, consumed by
thousands of Swiss and French every day, really is.
The deep-water subs will also be collecting data on the geology and
physics of the lake.
Both subs are accompanied by more than 20 Russian scientists and
specialists. Scientists from the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland
and France are also involved in the research program.
These vessels are two of few in the world that can function as deep
as 6,000 meters. But this time they will only plumb to 300 meters,
the deepest point of Lake Geneva.
The mini-subs are famous for their expedition at the Titanic wreck
site in 1997, which provided some unique footage of the real ship
for James Cameron's epic movie. And in 2010, James Cameron,
celebrating his 56th birthday, dived into the deepest and oldest
lake in the world, Baikal, using one of these subs.
Back In 2007, the same two submersibles probed the Lomonosov Ridge
in the Arctic Ocean to prove it was the continuation of Russia’s
continental shelf.
In August 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dived in one
of the Mir subs and became the first Russian politician to reach
the bottom of Baikal.