Implementing smart autonomous instrumentation

Smart autonomous marine platforms are vehicles which function without a crew, collecting critical data about the health and properties of the ocean. These platforms come in many shapes and sizes; some stay on the surface like boats, such as the Liquid Robotics Waveglider, while others travel from the surface to 1000m depth, such as the Kongsberg Seagliders. All of these platforms are very flexible and can be equipped with sensor packages to look at a wide range of ocean properties. The information collected is then transmitted back in real time and makes them ideally suited to answering a whole range of biological, chemical and physical questions which are directly relevant to protecting our marine resources.

In the face of reduced funds and declining budgets, these platforms are an excellent alternative to costly ships. They cover large distances over months and therefore also can tell us a lot about how ocean processes change in both space and time. Using this fairly new technology requires understanding how they work and having the proper tools to make best use of the information they collect. Without this prior knowledge, investigations may not be designed in a way to answer the questions posed by UK and European legislative requirements. The goal of this project is to transfer the expertise and the tools built through years of NERC-funded research at the University of East Anglia (UEA), an institute with a specialist glider group, to Cefas, the UK governments Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. In particular, the project will look at what combinations of platforms work best to avoid overlapping observations and minimise costs. An experiment using both a Seaglider and a Waveglider will look how sediment and ocean productivty is effected around wind farms. A brand new sensor will also be used to listen to the noise produced by the wind turbines and understand how this noise spreads in the ocean.

Cefas' role is to monitor the health of UK waters and provide policy advice to inform future government decisions. Alongside, Cefas must expand their capabilities to wider scientific and geographic areas. Both Cefas and UEA currently have links with countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (namely Kuwait, Qatar and Oman). This project's second aim is to cement these links, and create a pathway through a UEA-Cefas collaboration for UK industry and policy & research institutions to develop commercially in the GCC by using UK expertise and technology to answer critical questions about the waters around the GCC.

The results of this internship will be made available in a scientific publication, illustrating the best approaches for using multiple platforms together. The opportunities for UK stakeholders to develop within the GCC will be discussed at a workshop and a report will be produced for attendees.