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Bear Below!

WHOI’s Acoustic Communications group provided support for the Navy’s 2011 Arctic Submarine Laboratory “ICEX” exercises north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Engineer Peter Koski deployed acoustic recorders in 24-inch Pelican cases miles away from camp. Retrieving one March 29, they found a polar bear investigating. “Hovering close by, we waited for the bear to move away, then touched down quickly to grab the gear and got back into the air before the bear decided the helicopter looked like a flying ice cream truck,” he said. “No serious damage was done, the data was intact, and neither bear nor helicopter were injured.”

(Photo by Peter Koski, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)