Lost Undersea Probe Reveals Antarctic Ice Secrets

A 20-foot orange autonomous underwater vehicle named Ran explored the underside of West Antarctica's Dotson Ice Shelf in 2022, revealing a complex ice topography with terraces, channels, and teardrop pits unseen by satellites; when researchers returned in 2024 to monitor movement, Ran vanished without a trace, leaving researchers unsure of the cause but with valuable mapping data that show how warming Circumpolar Deep Water melts the shelf and could influence future sea-level rise.