Speaker: Kevin Hardy, President, Global Ocean Design LLC, Scripps Inst of Oceanography (retired). Topic: Diving the Peru-Chile Trench with a Robotic Lander.
Titanic geophysical forces collide powerfully along the entire western coast of South America, creating the deep depths of the Peru-Chile ocean trench and the lofty heights of the Andes mountain range. The vertical difference between the trench floor and the mountain peak over the horizontal distance between the two points is the greatest on this planet. Offshore Chile lays Easter Island. Offshore Peru lays the Galapagos Island group. It’s a fascinating continent, with wonderful people, a unique history, and life that is both the same, yet different, than the neighboring countries of Central and North America.
With video and slides, this talk will highlight the Chilean national imperative to have the domestic capability to dive their coastal waters of any depth, and how a San Diego company was recruited to help. Considerations of ship size, research facilities, staff support, and logistics were taken into account. Stories of the people and the land will bring to life the wonderful nature of exploration.
The Chileans have now become the first to dive the absolute deepest depth of the Peru-Chile Trench, 8,081m (26,500-ft). Altogether, the robotic lander has been launched and recovered more than 10 times to depths greater than 8km (26,000-ft). With equal measure of vision and passion, the Chilean ocean researchers have accomplished what they intended to do. National TV and press coverage brought the inspiring story to their fellow countrymen who delighted in the shared story.
The story appeared as the cover story of the April 2018 issue of the Marine Technology Reporter. (https://www.marinetechnologynews.com/magazine/issue/201804)
Speaker bio:
Kevin Hardy is President of Global Ocean Design LLC, a marine technology company he founded after a career spanning 40 years at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Hardy was chairman of MTS-SD twice. In 2011, he was personally recruited by James Cameron to join his DEEPSEA CHALLENGER Expedition to the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench.
Meeting at 6 for social and food;guest speaker presentation at 7. Venue:
Andrés Restaurant – 1235 Morena Blvd, San Diego