First Tests for Arctic Seafloor Robot Vehicles Completed
26.06.2007 - Other
Scientists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have successfully completed first tests of the robotic vehicles destined to hunt for life and hydrothermal vents on the Arctic seafloor.
The 30-member research team for the Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition (AGAVE) will thus begin its 40-day cruise aboard the Swedish Oden icebreaker on July 1st, 2007. Leaving from Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the expedition will head to the geographic North Pole in order to study the Gakkel Ridge, an extension of the mid-ocean ridge system that separates the North American tectonic plate from the Eurasian plate and which rises 1000 metres beneath the Arctic Ocean.
Being that it has been cut off from other ecosystems for over 26 million years, scientists hope to discover submarine hot springs and new exotic seafloor life having lived and evolved in isolation under the Arctic ice pack.
Tests included a 10-day engineering trial period during which vehicles were lowered under the ice to be driven underwater, while verifying acoustic communication techniques. The vehicles comprise of a first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) which will sense the hot fluids venting out of the ocean floor, a second AUV which will then map the seafloor and, finally, the special tethered remote controlled vehicle which will sample the seafloor.
During the upcoming expedition, the most difficult part will be for researchers to recover their vehicles from beneath the ice. Although tests have proven successful, this is still a risky business considering the moving floes in the Arctic that can quickly close up the leads around an icebreaker...
