What hypothesis was being tested during the Challenger expedition?

HMS Challenger sailed on 21 December 1872 for a 4-year voyage around the world to cover 127,000 km (79,300 mi)–a distance more than three times the diameter of the Earth. An important hypothesis to test was that because of extreme pressure and no light, no life could exist below a depth of 550 m.

What ocean basin did the HMS Challenger traverse in spring of 1873?

Among the Challenger Expedition’s discoveries was one of the deepest parts of the ocean—the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific, where the seafloor is 26,850 feet, or more than 4 miles deep (8,200 meters). The deepest place in all the oceans is near where the Challenger took its sounding.

What was the significance of the Challenger Expedition?

Many consider it to be the first true oceanographic expedition because it yielded a wealth of information about the marine environment. Those aboard identified many organisms then new to science, and they gathered data at 362 oceanographic stations on temperature, currents, water chemistry, and ocean floor deposits.

How did the HMS Challenger measure depth?

The depths of the Mariana Trench were first plumbed in 1875 by the British ship H.M.S. Challenger as part of the first global oceanographic cruise. The Challenger scientists recorded a depth of 4,475 fathoms (about five miles, or eight kilometers) using a weighted sounding rope.

What’s at the bottom of Challenger Deep?

(CNN) — An American undersea explorer has completed what is claimed to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded — returning to the surface with the depressing news that there appears to be plastic trash down there.

Is there a point deeper than Challenger Deep?

After all, it was only in 1997 that researchers discovered the Sirena Deep, which is also located in the Mariana Trench, which they measured at 35,210 feet, less than a thousand feet shallower than the Challenger Deep.

What was the purpose of the HMS Challenger expedition?

The Challenger voyage was a logical progression from other scientific voyages sponsored by Britain.

What was the depth found by the Challenger expedition?

Expedition. Modern soundings to 10,994 meters have since been found near the site of the Challenger’s original sounding. Challenger’s discovery of this depth was a key finding of the expedition in broadening oceanographic horizons on the ocean’s depth and extent and now bears the vessel’s name, the Challenger Deep .

Where did Charles Wyville Thomson get the idea for the Challenger expedition?

In 1870, Charles Wyville Thomson (right), Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University, persuaded the Royal Society of London to ask the British Government to furnish one of Her Majesty’s ships for a prolonged voyage of exploration across the oceans of the globe.

Why did the Challenger set sail in 1872?

Fishermen, whalers, sealers, and others depended on the sea for their livelihood, and the products of their work fed and employed countless people in nearly every country. Yet, in spite of this dependence on the oceans, no systematic scientific study had been made of them until the Challenger set sail in 1872.