For the first time in 25 years, scientists will receive new answers about the temperatures in the Polar Ocean. They only managed to collect their measuring equipment in the nick of time before the ice made it impossible, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Last year, rigs with measuring equipment were placed in the ocean north of Svalbard and north of Alaska. The rigs would go 4,000 meters down, all the way to the Polar Ocean seabed.

The Norwegian Coast Guard has now completed a very special SAR mission in the Beaufort Sea in a struggle against time, the cold and the ice. Both avalanche detectors and acoustic positioning was used to find the top of the rig. It was eventually located by a diver.

Sound signals have been sent between these rigs for almost a full year. Sound travels faster in warm than in cold water and in this way, sound may reveal the ocean temperature.