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Remembering Nereus

May 10, 2015

“Nereus was an amazing, groundbreaking robot and the only currently active vehicle in the world that could reach the extreme depths of the ocean trenches,” wrote explorer and filmmaker James Cameron, upon hearing the news that Nereus was lost at sea on May 10, 2014. On a mission to explore the Kermadec Trench northeast of New Zealand, scientists lost contact with the vehicle at a depth of 9,990 meters (6.2 miles), and believe it imploded. The Institution received many condolences from fellow ocean scientists and explorers expressing feelings akin to Cameron’s: “I feel like I’ve lost a friend,” he wrote.(Photo by Christopher German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)