BTW, I've thought more about my comments above. I don't think they need to program it to violate its depth rating. Just reprogram it so that it stays at its maximum depth rating as the ocean floor gets deeper. As long as the ocean floor only gets a few hundred meters deeper, it still should get adequate resolution. If the ocean gets much deeper than that, they need a new tool. And there aren't a whole lot of AUVs in the world with the capabilities of Bluefin. We have one, but it doesn't go deeper than that IIRC.
-Bob
-Bob