Datasets / Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory


Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory

Published By Federal Laboratory Consortium

Issued over 9 years ago

US
beta

Summary

Type of release
a one-off release of a set of related datasets

Data Licence
Not Applicable

Content Licence
Creative Commons CCZero

Verification
automatically awarded

Description

FUNCTION: Studies coastal ocean processes with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Maintains, tests, ballasts, and prepares for deployment the Slocum Electric Glider AUV built by Webb Research Corporation. Slocums are designed to independently perform wide-area ocean surveys of temperature and salinity for up to about one month. DESCRIPTION: Slocum gliders are equipped with temperature/salinity/pressure sensors and with real-time satellite connection to the Iridium newtork. These gliders, unlike conventional AUVs, have no active propulsion system and instead rely on a battery-induced change of buoyancy and active control surfaces to glide through the coastal ocean from the surface to the bottom and from the bottom to the surface in a saw-tooth pattern. This system requires low amounts of power and therefore the gliders do not need to carry heavy battery payloads and can be deployed over long-duration missions (>30 days). An altimeter is used to prevent bottom collisions. Two-way communication of data/instructions occurs through Iridium satellite or freewave radio when the gliders are on the ocean surface. The central payload of the gliders can be equipped with various instruments for ocean measurements. The coastal gliders can dive to 200 meters depth. INSTRUMENTATION: A Slocum glider typically carries an altimeter and a Sea-Bird CTD (temperature, salinity, and depth) as part of a fundamental sensor faculty. Vertically averaged current velocity can be calculated using the difference of the actual glider track with the programmed track and surface current velocity can be calculated using the consecutive GPS fixes while at surface. Additional sensors include Wetlabs BB3 (optical backscattering), FL3 (fluorescence), and AUVB (total volume scattering).