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Newbie NUI

One of the newest vehicles developed at WHOI with funding from the National Science Foundation, Nereid Under Ice (NUI) enables researchers to explore the fascinating extreme habitat under sea ice. First tested in the Arctic in July 2014 on a NOAA Ocean Exploration-supported expedition aboard the Alfred Wegener Institute’s ice-breaker Polarstern, NUI is remotely operated by pilots aboard a surface ship via a lightweight, fiber-optic tether. Shipboard scientists receive real-time environmental data, including high-definition video imagery of what the vehicle “sees” as it explores, maps, and gathers data beneath undisturbed sea-ice away from the disruptive impact of an ice-breaker.(Photo by Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)