Deepest-diving sub implodes in Kermadec trench

[Nipuna]

(Image: Advanced Imaging and Visualization Lab, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

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Here we remember the pioneering underwater explorer Nereus in its heyday as the world's deepest-diving vehicle. Sadly, Nereus (rhymes with serious) is now in pieces, crushed by the immense pressure in the fathomless depths of the Kermadec trench, north-east of New Zealand.

Researchers lost contact with Nereus on 10 May at a depth of 9990 metres. It had just collected a sea cucumber. If contact is lost, the craft was designed to ascend to the surface automatically. Instead, only debris bobbed up, indicating a catastrophic implosion. The sub's controllers hope that the fragments will provide clues as to exactly what went wrong.

Nereus was built in 2008 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For surveys of large areas, it operated as an autonomous, free-swimming robot. For close-up investigation and sampling of rocks and organisms on the sea floor, it was controlled via a tether to a support ship.