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The Track of a Hunter

The track of the hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV) Nereus is depicted here as it hunted for hydrothermal vents in the Cayman Trough in 2009. The green and blue dots denote strong evidence of hydrothermal fluids flowing up from the seafloor. Yellow, orange and red signify progressively weaker evidence of vent activity. During the preprogrammed part of the mission, shown by the tracks on the right, Nereus found few signs of hydrothermal vents. When it got a strong “hit” from the sensor, the scientific team re-tasked the vehicle using an acoustic communication link to execute a new set of tracklines shown on the left that centered on the suspected target.(Image courtesy of Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)