Boldly going: Exploring the ocean depths in human-occupied vehicles

Paul Tyler is a veteran of deep-sea dives in manned submersibles, with more than 20 years’ experience. In June 2013, Jon Copley became the first British person to dive beyond 5 km deep, aboard Japan’s Shinkai6500 submersible. And as an early-career researcher, Verity recently completed her first dive in a submersible.

In this video, all three scientists talk about what it is like to visit the alien world of the deep ocean, and why, in an age of remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles, actually sending humans to the ocean floor can still provide a useful perspective of the environments that we are exploring.

Remotely operated vehicles can work for longer periods on seafloor than manned submersibles, however, and their unique capabilities are also discussed further here.