On Wednesday, September 9, children and their families will get a chance to find out without getting wet.
A research ROV from the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) will dive into the harbor as part of the public event “The City and the Sea,” offering live images from the seabed just a few meters below the city.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at MARINA Café Restaurant in Heraklion’s Venetian harbor.
The star of the afternoon is the ROV, essentially a small remotely operated underwater vehicle that the researchers describe as an underwater research “submarine.”
It will descend into the waters of the Venetian harbor while children watch live footage and explore an underwater environment usually hidden from view.
The event is designed to bring scientific research closer to the city and, particularly, to younger audiences.
Because sometimes the best classroom is the one nobody has remembered to look beneath.
The underwater exploration will be followed by a presentation and discussion focusing on the harbor and coastal heritage, examining Heraklion’s long relationship with the sea, its history and its coastal environment.
Vasiliki Metheniti, a PhD researcher, will lead the presentation.
Nikos Kampanis, director of FORTH’s Coastal and Marine Research Laboratory, and PhD researcher Giorgos Alexandrakis will then discuss the harbor and its coastal heritage.
The afternoon will finish with an open discussion with the audience.
The event is a collaboration between DEPANAL SA, FORTH’s Coastal and Marine Research Laboratory, the Heraklion Port Authority and the Port Fund.
For a city whose history has always been tied to the sea, this is a chance to turn everyone’s attention away from the waterfront for a moment and look down.
