New Underwater Robot Exploring underneath the Ice Cover in Antarctica
15.10.2010 - Logistics, Water & Oceans, Ice & Snow, Antarctic
From October 17th to November 12th, 2010, researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) are deploying an underwater robot to survey ice-covered marine areas in Antarctica.
Researchers predict that the sea ice around Antarctica will recede by more than 33% by 2100, which could entail the collapse of ice shelves of up to hundreds of meters thick. Within this context, the mission will try to gain better understanding of the effect of ice shelves on the mixing of sea water and provide critical data for the Antarctica 2010 Glacier Tongues and Ocean Mixing Research Project.
Until now, scientists had only restricted access to the area beneath the ice cover; however UBC’s newly-developed submersible robot has changed all that. The robot, named UBC-Gavia, will navigate the deep, cold waters adjacent to – and possibly also under – the Erebus Glacier Tongue in McMurdo Sound. It will provide key information on the waters underneath the ice cover thanks to its temperature and salinity sensors, current meters, mapping sonar, a digital camera, and water quality optical sensors.
As only a few under-ice AUV’s have been deployed in the past, findings from this study will be unique and should provide a better overview of a largely unmapped subglacial ocean environment. The resulting datasets will then provide the researchers with better insight into ice-ocean interactions and offer important data for climate models.
