Do the following statements agree with the passage?

Statement: Autonomous underwater vehicles require continuous physical tethering to surface support vessels.

The abyssal plains, spanning more than half of the Earth's total crustal surface, remain less systematically mapped than the surfaces of the Moon or Mars. Deep ocean bathymetry was historically hindered by the attenuation of electromagnetic signals in water, which limits satellite altimetry to low-resolution approximations. In recent years, high-endurance autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with multi-beam swath bathymetry systems and synthetic aperture sonars have revolutionized oceanic cartography. Navigating untethered along pre-programmed trajectory grids hundreds of meters above the seafloor, AUVs record sub-meter bathymetric topography, identify manganese nodule distributions, and detect sub-seafloor hydrothermal circulation with unprecedented accuracy.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. FALSE

  1. Step 1: Check the passage for how autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operate with respect to physical tethering.
  2. Step 2: The passage explicitly states: "Navigating untethered along pre-programmed trajectory grids hundreds of meters above the seafloor, AUVs record sub-meter bathymetric topography..." Because AUVs navigate untethered rather than requiring physical tethering, the statement is contradicted.
Answer
FALSE.

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