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Bombs Beneath the Waves

Divers from VRHabilis recover an unexploded munition off South Beach on Martha’s Vineyard in 2009. In the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. Navy and Air Force conducted military exercises in coastal areas that were then sparsely inhabited. Now, those same areas have become more heavily populated, making unexploded ordnance, or UXOs, a potential problem. WHOI scientist Peter Traykovski is investigating the behavior of unexploded ordnances, so that scientists can track how the objects are moved or buried over time, especially after storms. (Photo courtesy of Elliot Adler, VRHabilis)