Surface Interval #4 - Eight Divers Adrift Off Japan, a 137m Freediving Record and Oil Slicks From Space

Surface Interval is our weekly round-up: five stories from the diving world, in ninety seconds. Scuba, freediving, dive travel and ocean advocacy, every Sunday.

This week:

• Eight scuba divers, an instructor and seven customers, were swept 14km (9 miles) from their dive site off Japan's Hachijo Island on 3 October and lifted out by Japan Coast Guard aircraft after more than five hours; all were conscious and went to hospital as a precaution.
• Alexey Molchanov set a new men's constant-weight world record of 137m (449ft) at the AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol and took the overall title, while Hungary's Zsofia Torocsik set a women's free-immersion record at 108m (354ft).
• A SkyTruth satellite study estimates oil slicks cover 1.58 million square kilometres (610,000 square miles) of ocean a year, with about 81 percent of the slicks whose source could be identified traced to ships.
• A Japanese research team's multibeam survey puts the Challenger Deep at 10,927m (35,850ft), with five sound-velocity models spreading the eastern-basin result by up to 18m (59ft).
• And SCUBAPRO says its free repair for the Monorail weight pocket's release handle, which can detach in use, is available through dealers, after a recall announced in April.

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