In this fish-eye lens view, the icebreaker Oden is headed north into what will be thicker ice during a 2007 expedition to the Arctic Seafloor. At the top of the world, the Arctic Ocean is cold, remote, and covered in darkness for half the year. For the 40-day cruise to the Gakkel Ridge in the eastern Arctic Ocean, WHOI engineers built two new robotic autonomous underwater vehicles —PUMA and Jaguar —designed to be put into holes in the sea ice and to explore the deep reaches of the Arctic Ocean. The research team uncovered evidence of explosive volcanic eruptions deep beneath the ice-covered surface.

(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)