Exclusive! First Look at the Bottom of the Sea

Reported October

WOODS HOLE, Mass. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The deepest part of the world's oceans extends farther below sea level than Mount Everest reaches into the sky. Now a new robotic vehicle is taking researchers further down into the depths of the deep blue sea than ever before.

Nereus makes a view at the deepest known part of the ocean possible, located six point eight miles below sea level in the western Pacific Ocean. Mechanical and ocean engineer Andy Bowen helped design this under water vehicle made up of various sensors, sonars, computers and LED lighting.

"Historically though we've been unable to go all the way to 35,000 feet so there's almost 15,000 feet of the world's oceans that have been unexplored," Bowen, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., told Ivanhoe.

What sets Nereus apart from other underwater vehicles is the hundreds of light-weight ceramic balls that provide buoyancy while protecting the electronics from sea floor pressure. Also, this micro-thin fiber optic cable acts like a high speed internet connection, sending real-time images over 25 miles.

The mechanical arm also helps retrieve all sorts of creatures, new species that could lead to cures for diseases on land.

"It's limitless what may be down there in terms of what we can apply to our healthcare system to our benefit," Timothy Shank, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told Ivanhoe.

Nereus can also swim unmanned as an autonomous underwater vehicle. Now researchers are hoping Nereus can lead the way to other great discoveries.

The American Geophysical Union, the Materials Research Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, and the Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Andy Bowen
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(508) 289-2643
abowen@whoi.edu

Materials Research Society
Warrendale, PA 15086-7573
(724) 779-3003
http://www.mrs.org
webmaster@mrs.org

Optical Society of America
Washington, DC 20036-1023
(202) 223-8130
http://www.osa.org
info@osa.org

Peter Weiss
American Geophysical Union
Washington, DC 20009-1277
(800) 966-2481
http://www.agu.org
pweiss@agu.org

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
Pender McCarter
IEEE http://www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA http://www.ieeeusa.org
p.mccarter@ieee.org

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