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Shrinking Cups in the Deep

Legacy image
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust

One of the activities that teams on board often do is illustrate styrofoam cups and then send them down to the ocean floor attached to Hercules or Argus. The pressure shrinks the styrofoam and the effect is a miniature cup!

Karen illustrated a cup and had Clancy Emanuel of the ROV engineering team device a mount to place it on the front of the ROV Hercules so we could film it dropping to the bottom.

SCFs in front of Hercules
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust
Cup, ready to shrink
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust
Karen holding shrunken cup
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust

Success! The cups and illustrations are part of a collaboration with National Geographic Kids.

Shrunken cup #1
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust
Shrunken cup #2
Credit
Ocean Exploration Trust

Watch the cup shrunk in this clip, captured on Hercules' main camera: