Shrunken head, one year later
APL engineer Trina Litchendorf with her shrunken styrofoam head, recovered after a year at sea on the undervater. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V18.
July 31, 2018
Archive
Shrunken Heads Of the Deep
A sytrofoam head (left) provided by the Clallam Bay School, Washington was taken down to ~9500 ft. It stands next to a "normal sized" styrofoam head designed by Tracie Barry, a previous VISIONS' student. At this depth, the pressure of the overlying ocean is almost 300 times that on land. Credit: D. Kelley, University of Washington, V17.
August 14, 2017
Extreme Shrunken Heads
A great learning experience regarding the impact of pressure on materials is provided by placing styrofoam cups and heads in mesh bags on the CTD and deploying them >9000 feet beneath the oceans surface. This image shows a very small head that experienced a 'free fall' event when the CTD wire parted after a prior 9000 foot planned trip to the seafloor during routine CTD operations. A wig head that has not yet made it to the seafloor is shown on the right for comparison. Oh, and Deb Kelley's head is used for scale.
August 8, 2013
Shrunken head
Co-chief Scientist Debbie Kelley shows the difference between a normal sized Styrofoam head with one that was shrunken by sending it to ~1000 meters water depth. (photo by Allison Fundis)
August 28, 2011