Nereus, a remotely controlled deep-sea submersible, has been destroyed by an implosion six miles underwater.
The implosion occurred off the coast of New Zealand, deep in the Kermadec Trench. The probe was being used to examine the hadal region of the ocean, which lies between 20,000 and 36,000 feet under the surface of the water. At those depths, the submersible experienced pressures of 16,000 pounds per square inch.
Nereus was built and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and has been in operation since 2008. The craft was built to travel to the deepest parts of the world's oceans, and operate by remote control or independently.
"Nereus helped us explore places we've never seen before and ask questions we never thought to ask. It was a one-of-a-kind vehicle that even during its brief life, brought us amazing insights into the unexplored deep ocean, addressing some of the most fundamental scientific problems of our time about life on Earth," Timothy Shank, one of the designers of the craft, said.
The underwater explorer was 30 days into a 40-day mission when it was lost. Nereus was being commanded by the crew of the Thomas G. Thompson, conducting the first-ever systemic detailed survey of a deep-ocean trench.
On the day it was destroyed, the Nereus was taking part in a nine-hour survey of the ridge. Contact was lost seven hours into the day. The crew began standard procedures to recover the sub, and began searching the area. Soon, pieces of debris were found floating on the water, which were later shown to have originated from Nereus.
Additional wreckage from the craft is still being collected, in order to learn more about what may have caused the accident.
This was not the deepest dive ever taken by the submersible. Nereus previously dove down to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean floor in the world. The craft was scheduled to return to that same trench again, as part of the study.
During the course of its explorations, Nereus was used to discover unusual species that only exist deep under the ocean. The craft also answered many of the questions geologists had about the construction and chemical makeup of the ocean floor.
"Extreme exploration of this kind is never without risk, and the unfortunate loss of Nereus only underscores the difficulty of working at such immense depths and pressures. Fortunately there was no human injury as a consequence of this loss. WHOI scientists and engineers will continue to design, construct and operate even more advanced vehicles to explore and understand the most remote and extreme depths of our global ocean," Larry Madin, director of research at WHOI, stated in a press release.
