Ballooning under the sea
No, it’s not a hot air balloon to ascend into the sky. Rather more like a cold water balloon diving upside down into the ocean. Except that its purpose is not to submerge inquisitive marine scientists to a Jules Verne adventure under the sea. It is to bring up nutrient-rich deep water to the sea surface.
It is time for a second load of the life-supporting deep brew. Before our deep water collector can be filled again, however, it needs to be carefully cleaned. For this it is taken out of its element, placed on dry land and inflated like a bouncy bounce. Through a small hole at the top end Micha crawled into the balloon, equipped with a high-pressure cleaner, to clean off the biofilm that had formed on the inner walls since the collector was first filled some weeks ago. Now our Jules Verne Nautilus is ready for a refill in the coming days. With the fresh supply of deep water we hope to continue our simulated upwelling until the end of our study.
