WHOI ADVANCED IMAGING AND VISUALIZATION LABThe Nereus underwater: destroyed at a depth of 10 km WHOI ADVANCED IMAGING AND VISUALIZATION LAB
Researchers at the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) lost access to an unexplored region of the Pacific Ocean after the Nereus, a subaquatic, unmanned vehicle, collapsed due to external water pressure after reaching a depth of 10 kilometers below sea level. On May 9, 2014, the scientists that controlled the submarine from a ship stopped receiving the images sent by the Nereus’ five cameras. The accident was confirmed only after researchers found pieces of the vehicle floating in the water. “The loss of the Nereus is a tragedy for the study of the abyssal zone. We cannot explore two thirds of the ocean’s depths without an unmanned vehicle,” said Tim Shank, a biologist and head of the mission, to the journal Nature. Scientists involved in the project said research is expected to continue and that there is already an ongoing project to replace the Nereus. On its first voyage, in 2009, the submarine discovered a new species of anemone in a region known as the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. In 2011, the equipment was incorporated into Hadal Ecosystem Studies, a National Science Foundation international program to determine the composition and distribution of species within the ecosystem of abyssal trenches that are more than 6 kilometers deep. Only the Nereus and three other submarines have been able to reach a depth of about 11 km.
Republish