Kategorie: News
Blackwater excursion in the fjords of Norway
Blackwater diving has advanced in recent years from an occasional (and simply under the generic term "night dive") activity for macro freaks, to a sensational and exciting niche in scuba diving. Thanks to the underwater photos of talented macro photographers, we are amazed to realize what tiny aliens are on the move in the upper water layers of the nocturnal oceans.
Report by Angelika Heinrichs
And even if the smallest and smallest in their often truly bizarre appearances are the real stars here - the nightly migration of plankton from the depths to the surface is at the same time, by far, the largest movement of biomass on our planet at all.
In the warm climes some diving centers have already adapted very professionally to blackwater diving and many an ambitious underwater photographer will be mainly interested in the "nightlife" during his trip to the sunny tropics and will sleep through the days. But the most productive oceans are ultimately the Arctic and subarctic seas.
What does it actually look like here? This is what Norwegian-based diving and expedition organizer Sven Gust and marine biologist, TV presenter and, not least, well-known underwater photographer Uli Kunz wanted to investigate in more detail once during the Norwegian polar night.
Creatures that you would rather not meet in the dark...
In October and November 2020, they will conduct a series of very different Blackwater dives, some of them over almost 600 meters deep water in the fjords and off the coast, on other nights again in shallow and sheltered bays and fjord foothills with a high freshwater content. This resulted in some really spectacular shots of creatures that you would rather not meet in the dark, or you may be glad that they are mostly only a few millimeters or maximum centimeters in size.
The dives also opened a door to a whole new world for the two - especially for long-time and active divers it is not everyday to suddenly rediscover a complete, hidden universe in their own home territory.
But the two divers also found that the nocturnal migration of plankton in the north apparently differs significantly from that in the south. One important reason could be that it never gets dark in the Arctic summer, while the sun never or barely makes it above the horizon in winter.
Life has adapted to this rhythm and so many of the larvae, copepods, small umbrella and ribbed jellyfish, shrimps, snails, squid and tiny fish can already be observed at dusk.
Uli and Sven are in contact with researchers who have been working on the subject for a long time and are currently trying to find out the possible influence of tides, currents and moon phases.
The photos Uli brought back from the dives so far are fascinating and give insight into a universe full of aliens. And they make you want to discover more! Uli and Sven are therefore planning further projects of this kind in Norway and later possibly in the high arctic regions like Greenland or Spitzbergen.
If you are interested in joining one of the few "Arctic Blackwater" projects planned so far in October in central Norway, please contact them and get more information at www.northern-explorers.com.