Largest Underwater Statue Holds Ocean on its Shoulders

Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/largest-underwater-statue-holds-ocean-shoulders-123101113.html

Just off the coast of the Bahamas, a giant waits beneath the waves.

The nearly 2-story-high statue, dubbed Ocean Atlas, was lowered into place earlier this month and is the largest sculpture ever placed underwater. The statue, which stands 18 feet (5.5 meters) tall and weighs 60 tons, depicts a Bahamian girl holding the weight of the ocean on her shoulders.

Ocean Atlas is inspired by Greek myth of the Titan Atlas, who holds the celestial spheres on his shoulders. The sculpture was designed and built by artist and conservationist Jason deCaires Taylor. While the sheer size of the sculpture is impressive, the statue isn’t just a visual treat for passing scuba divers and snorkelers, Taylor said. [See Images of the Giant Underwater Sculpture ‘Ocean Atlas’]

“I really wanted my work to be functional at the conservational level,” Taylor told Live Science. “I realized I could make an artificial reef with these sculptures and they would have a different life,” he said, referring to coral creatures that can colonize the sculpture.

The sculpture is intended to show that people, and especially the next generation, “can support our seas and stop them from collapsing,” Taylor said.

Underwater sculpture

Ocean Atlas may be the biggest underwater statue, but it isn’t the first. In 1954, Guido Galletti’s statue of Jesus with his arms up, called “Christ of the Abyss,” was placed under the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy, to commemorate a scuba diver who died there. Two statues from the same mold as the “Christ of the Abyss” also lie off the coasts of Grenada and Key Largo, Florida. A marine park near Cancún, Mexico, harbors 500 statues at three underwater galleries (many of the statues were made by Taylor). And Taylor has designed several other underwater sculpture parks around the Caribbean islands.

Over time, Taylor has consulted several scientists about the most durable materials for the marine environment. He uses special marine-grade cement that is pH neutral (meaning it’s not acidic or basic) and very strong; it also doesn’t require reinforcing metal, which could corrode underwater.

Assembling such a large structure under the waves is a huge technical challenge. Individual pieces of the sculpture were cast in concrete on land, then lowered in place with a crane, he said. A team of divers maneuvered the pieces together so they locked into place. Now complete, the Ocean Atlas stretches from the seafloor to the surface.

Artificial reef

Because the sculptures are intended as artificial reefs, the material used had to mimic real reef environments.

“Most coral reefs are formed on natural rock formations,” Taylor said. “You need an object that’s extremely solid, and the surface area is textured so the coral polyps can attach and anchor themselves.” (Coral polyps first attach to a hard surface, and then form colonies, which pull calcium from the seawater to create their hard homes for their soft bodies.)

The sculpture also has to be placed downstream from natural coral reefs, so that embryonic coral drifting through the water will reach and colonize the structure, Taylor said. Sometimes, Taylor plans to seed the structure with coral to speed the colonization.

When designing any underwater sculpture, he also tries to envision how different animals will occupy its nooks and crannies. Crustaceans tend to occupy the bottom of the sculpture, using it as a base camp for nighttime hunting. They also shelter a little higher up on the lower parts of the sculpture. Schooling fish may hide from big predators in voids within the structure, Taylor said.

The more surfaces and crannies, the better; when his sculptures are placed on a barren stretch of sand, sea life quickly colonizes the structure’s many shelters, he said.

“Everything underwater is trying to hide,” Taylor said.

For most of the past four years he was living in Mexico near his Cancún sculptures, and would visit almost weekly to document the minute changes on the sculptures.

The underwater environment also provides a viewing experience most landlubbers never experience, he said. “Normally when you visit a sculpture garden you’re subject to gravity, but underwater, the laws are very different,” Taylor said. “You can appreciate the work from many different angles.”


25 year shelf life food, 30 day food storage, 30 day supply emergency food, 30 days food supply, about food safety, about gmo, about monsanto, AdventureReady, ApocalypseReady, augason farms, BackpackingGear, BePrepared, BombCyclonePrep, BombCycloneReady, bucket food, bug out bag, bug out bag supplies, bugout bag supplies food, bugout bag survival kit, bugout gear, bulk emergency food, bulk food survival, BushcraftSkills, Camping food, canned food, Category_News, CommunityStrength, CommunitySurvivalStrategies, dangers of gmo, datrex emergency food, disaster food, disaster food kits, disaster kit, disaster kit food, disaster preparedness, disaster preparedness food, disaster supplies, DisasterPreparedness, DisasterReadiness, DisasterReady, DisasterResponse, DisasterSafetyTips, doomsday food, dry food, dry food emergency, earthquake food, earthquake food supplies, earthquake kit, earthquake kit food, earthquake survival food kit, earthquake survival kit, earthquake survival kit food, EarthquakePreparation, EarthquakePreparedness, EarthquakeReadiness, EarthquakeSafety, emergency, emergency bars, emergency food, emergency food 30 day, emergency food augason farms, emergency food bar, emergency food bucket, emergency food gluten free, emergency food kit, emergency food kits, emergency food ration, emergency food storage, emergency food supply, emergency food supply 30 day, emergency food supply family, emergency food supply gluten free, emergency food supply wise company, emergency food survival, emergency food tablets, emergency food tabs, emergency food wise, emergency food wise company, emergency foods, emergency foods supply, emergency gluten free food, emergency kit, emergency kit food, emergency meal, emergency meals, emergency preparedness, emergency preparedness food, emergency preparedness kit, emergency ration, emergency ration bars, emergency ration food, emergency rations, emergency rations long shelf life, emergency ready eat meals, emergency supplies, emergency supplies food, emergency supply, emergency survival food supply, emergency survival kit, emergency survival rations, emergency tabs, emergency vegan food supply, emergency water, emergency water pouches, EmergencyDiet, EmergencyFoodSupply, EmergencyKit, EmergencyNutrition, EmergencyPreparation, EmergencyPreparedness, EmergencyPrepWithConfidence, EmergencyReadiness, EmergencyReady, ExtremeWeatherPrep, FaithFriendlySurvival, family survival food, FamilyEmergencyKit, FamilyEmergencyPrep, FamilyPrep, FamilyPreparedness, FamilySafety, FamilySafetyFirst, FamilySafetyHacks, fda gmo, food 30 day supply, food bars emergency, food bars survival, food emergency kit, food emergency supply, food gmo, food ration, food storage 30 day, food storage supply, food supply 1 year, food supply 30 day, food supply emergency, food supply survival, food survival, food tablets, food tablets survival, food tabs, foods with gmo, foodsupply, freeze dried food, freeze dried food survival, freeze-dried foods have some drawbacks. For instance, freeze-dried meals, genetic engineering, genetic roulette, genetically, genetically altered foods, genetically modified food, genetically modified food crops, genetically modified soy, gluten free emergency food, gluten free emergency food supply, gluten free mre meals, gluten free survival food, GlutenFreeEmergencyFood, GlutenFreeEmergencyKit, GlutenFreeLifeSaver, GlutenFreePreparedness, GlutenFreeReadiness, GlutenFreeSurvival, GlutenFreeSurvivalKit, GlutenFreeSurvivalTabs, GlutenFreeTabs, gmo, gmo canola, gmo corn, gmo cotton, gmo cottonseed, gmo feed, gmo food in america, gmo food products, gmo food safety, gmo health, gmo in food, gmo soy, gmo soybeans, gmo studies, gmo sugarbeets, gmo testing, gmos environment, gmos food, gmos in food, health and safety, health risks of gmos, healthy diet, healthy eating, HealthyEmergencyFood, high calorie food bars emergency, high calorie survival bars, Hiking food, HikingEssentials, hurricane food preparedness, hurricane food storage, Jeffrey M. Smith, Jeffrey Smith, JewishEmergencyKit, JewishFamilies, JewishFamiliesPrepare, JewishFamilyPreparedness, KoreanJapaneseReadiness, KosherEmergencyFood, KosherPreparedness, label gmos, life straw, lifeboat rations, long shelf life food, long term food, long term food storage, long term food supply, long term storage food, LongShelfLife, LongShelfLifeFood, LongTermFoodStorage, mainstay emergency food, meal bars survival, meal ready to eat, mercola, military food, military meal, military ration, military rations, military surplus food 2020 emergency meal complete camping prep tablets year supply foods american replacement tab mre pack date buy tablet army bulk ration gluten packs vegan, monsanto, mountain food, mountain house, mountain house food, mountain house meals, mre, mre gluten free, mre meal, mre meals, mre meals vegan, mre's meals ready eat, mre's meals ready to eat, mres, natural news, NaturalDisasterPrep, NaturalDisasterPreparation, NatureLovers, no gmos, non gmo ingredients, non perishable food, non-gmo, non-gmo shopping guide, NonGMOEmergencyFood, NonGMOEmergencyTabs, NonGMOProtection, NonGMOSafety, NonGMOSurvivalFood, nonperishable food for tropical storm, NutritionInCrisis, one month food supply, OutdoorAdventure, OutdoorSafety, patriot food survival, PostCollapseCommunity, prepper food, prepper food supplies, preppers food, preppers food supplies, ration, ration bars, ration bars emergency, ration food, ration survival, rations 30 day, rations mre, ready-to-eat meals, Resilience, risks of gmo, roundup ready, safety in food, safety of genetically modified foods, SafetyFirst, SafetyMeasures, Seeds of Deception, SeismicSafety, SevereWeatherReadiness, SevereWeatherSafety, SevereWeatherSurvival, shelf-stable foods, shop non-gmo, sos emergency ration, storm survival food, StormPreparedness, StormReady, StormSafety, StormSafetyTips, such as a 25-year shelf life (depending on the food) and low cost. However, survival, survival backpack, survival backpacks, survival bars, survival dry food, survival emergency food, survival food, survival food 25 year, survival food 25 year shelf life, survival food bars, survival food kit, survival food ration, survival food tablets, survival food tabs, survival foods, survival gear, survival gear and equipment, survival kit, survival kit food, survival kits, survival meals, survival ration, survival rations, survival storage food, survival tab, survival tablets, survival tabs, survival tabs 25 year shelf life, survival tabs 60 day, survival tabs emergency food, survival water, SurvivalGuide, survivalhacks, SurvivalNutrition, SurvivalPrep, SurvivalTablets, survivaltabs, SurvivalTabs GlutenFreeSurvival, SurvivalTabsAdvantage, SurvivalTabsEssentials, SurvivalTabsReady, SurvivalTabsUnity, SurvivalTabsUses, SurvivalTactics, SurvivalTips, The survival food market is currently dominated by freeze-dried foods. These foods have gained popularity due to advantages, the survival tabs, the survival tabs emergency food, TheSurvivalTabs, tipping point network, TogetherWeSurvive, TornadoRecovery, Tropical storm food list, vegan emergency food, vegan food rations, vegetarian emergency food, vegetarian emergency food supply, water for emergencies, water purification tablets, WeatherEmergencyPrep, what are gmo, what is gmo, why gmo, WildernessSurvival, wise company emergency food, wise company food, wise food, wise foods emergency food, year supply food, ZombieOutbreakTips