In March 2016 Living Seas launched a new style of trip which we are calling Extreme Week. These trips offer more challenging, objective driven projects for our base of competent divers to get involved with. Our first Extreme Week trip saw us return to Lake Batur, with a team of divers capable of exploring a larger area of the lake. This project also saw Living Seas collaborate with a group of scientists from NTU. Our divers provided RNA samples from the lake so scientist could identify the microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and algae) living in the lake.

Depth charts of the lake show an underwater ridge connects the east and west coasts of the lake. This ridge is located midway along the lake (see graphic below) and lies at a depth of 45m or so. Emerging from the lake is Mount Batur, a stratovolcano, with multiple vents throughout the caldera. First recorded eruption was in 1804 and the volcano has remained active ever since. The latest eruption was in 2000. We wondered whether there was an active vent beneath the lake which had caused the ridge to form. If nothing else, it would make for an interesting feature to explore.

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