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Nereid Under Ice explores Aurora hydrothermal vent field

November 13, 2019

The newly upgraded Nereid Under Ice, a hybrid remotely operated vehicle, is deployed from the Norwegian Icebreaker KronPrins Haakon to conduct its first deep ocean dives to 4,000 meters (over 13,000 feet) along the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean. This area is one of the world’s slowest spreading and deepest mid-ocean ridges, along which lies the Aurora vent-field and its underwater hot springs. Here exist both one of the most hostile and extreme locales for life on Earth, and also our best analog for where life might exist elsewhere in the Universe. Read National Geographic’s article about the expedition. (Photo by Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)