AV’s Search In Mariana Trench Helps Advance Understanding Of Deep Sea And Its Critical Minerals

A new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) imaged a previously unexplored portion of the seafloor in ultra-deep waters near the Mariana Trench. Operationalizing this technology for the first time was part of a mission led by the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI), based at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

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