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Flying under ice

A team from the Oceanographic Systems Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) test a REMUS (Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS) 100 vehicle in a frozen pond in New Hampshire to prepare for under ice operation in the Arctic. WHOI researchers headed to the Chukchi Sea off Point Barrow, Alaska, in March 2010, to study the flow of water to the Arctic from the Pacific Ocean. “The inflow of Pacific water plays an important role in maintaining the Arctic ice cap,” said Al Plueddemann, a WHOI physical oceanographer who led the mission. The REMUS vehicle was used to help gather crucial data beneath the ice.

(Photo by Amy Kukulya, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)