Ocean Exploration: Discovery and Offshore Stewardship

Abstract

and a blue, white, and red titanium flag rests on the soil of an alien world. The explorers who planted it, tucked safely within the confines of their twin vehicles, are safe from a deadly temperature and pressure differential but miles from any other human contact. Moments later, both craft lift off and head skyward, mission accomplished, but the risks are far from over as they head upward, looking to dock with their mother ship.These were not outer-space vehicles landing on a world orbiting another star or even our own, but vehicles exploring Earth's inner space-the seafloor beneath the North Pole. The submersibles, Mir-I and Mir-II, and the explorers they protected, were the first ever to visit this hostile and unforgiving landscape. Having reached a depth of over 4,200 m, the submersibles made their way back to the surface to locate the break in the ice from which they started. Not finding this point of entry would have the same ramifications of being marooned on a far, distant world.This expedition was much more than an act of national pride and was not without precedent. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, this spectacular, and then controversial, journey was an attempt "to show that our shelf reaches to the North Pole.