Expedition Name (& Club): Pozo Azul 2010

Destination country: Spain
Region:

Lat: 42.7340 Long: -3.8018 Elevation: m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Jason Mallinson

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

Continuation of exploration (since 2001) of Pozo Azul resurgence, which is Spains longest cave dive and one of the longest cave dives in the world.

How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

Please explain the aspects of the trip which make it eligible for Ghar Parau funding.

The equipment for this type of exploration does not currently exist, and so modification and complete new construction of the materials required is necessary. This can be any thing from modifying a commercially available rebreather to give longer duration (12 hrs +), to starting from scratch and rebuilding a new diver propulsion vehicle which can carry the extra batteries required to travel longer and longer distances. Currently we are looking at LiFePo batteries to give us the longer duration in the DPV's, prices approx £1000 per scooter. All this is self financed and runs into serious money despite the fact we generally make the equipment ourselves. Any grants we are able to secure tend to be used on group consumables and/or equipment which is procured in Spain such as Oxygen, and to offset the travel costs.

Detailed description of objectives:

Give a more detailed account of the purpose of the trip, including any particular known caves you intend to visit, specific areas where you will explore for new cave, and scientific experiments you will attempt.

Having succesfully passed the 5020m long Sump2 in 2009, the next expedition plans to set up a camp (4 divers) beyond Sump2 at over 6km into the cave. The majority of this is underwater (5720m) and will require 7-8 hours of diving to reach this point. A short passage beyond Sump 2 will be used as the bivouac site and multiple forays by all the divers will explore further into sump3 (currently 160m) over a two day period. The logistics for this expedition will require the innovative use of rebreathers, underwater habitats and ultra long range diver propulsion vehicles, to reach the bivouac, and dry tubes to transport the necessary camping equipment. The survey in Sump2 is currently only completed to 1km and it is unlikely that this will be extended very much further (by manual techniques) due to the emormous amount of decompression times (6-8 hours on a return dive) required just to traverse the sump. In 2010 we hope to trial electronic methods of acquiring data. In addition radio locating beacons will be taken through to the bivouac site to hopefully get a surface fix and thus know where the cave is heading. Once again the expedition will be in collaboration with Spanish cave divers from many regions. This promotes a good relationship and the transfer of cave diving techniques and ideas.

Previous work in this area:

Give details of any previous work in this area by your own and other teams. Include references to reports and articles published on the area, and the names of any local cavers or academics with whom you have discussed the Expedition.

J Mallinson has explored this site since 2001, visiting anually or more. All explorations have been written up in Cave Diving Group Newsletters. 2007 - BCA Hidden Earth - Presentation given 2009 - BCA Hidden Earth - Presentation given