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A NUI World

May 19, 2016

A team on board R/V Neil Armstrong recovered the Nereid Under Ice (NUI) hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV) during a recent cruise to test the ship’s science capabilities. During the cruise, NUI operated as an autonomous underwater vehicle, but it is also designed to travel more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) beneath undisturbed sea ice while tethered to a ship via a hair-thin optical fiber. Vehicle operators receive data from the vehicle, including high-definition video and measurements of the water’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. This data will play a critical role in understanding how the ice-covered oceans are responding to global change. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)