Polar Maritime

1
Polar Maritime How to best use AUVs, gliders and
other technologies to best study sea ice and ice
shelves and their interaction with the ocean Sea
ice Capability to measure sea ice thickness from
underneath is not being sufficiently exploited.
Need circumpolar survey. A legacy from IPY could
be a network of gliders/AUVs deployed from
Antarctic bases regularly to monitor sea ice
thickness. Production-class AUVs are probably
fine for going under sea ice to measure
thickness. Need capability to send data back, and
reposition, under ice, using moored acoustic
transceivers. Or return to open water. Gliders
arent ideal because they dont maintain a
constant depth below ice so not so good for
thickness work, but good for water properties.
2
Under ice shelves Gliders and small AUVs are
attractive for deployment under ice selves
because they are cheaper and it is risky. BUT
gliders dont usually have the upward, downward
and forward looking sensors that are needed for
collision avoidance going into a cavity. Plus,
they have to profile smaller ice shelves may
not provide enough space for this. Need
something smarter than a glider Production-class
AUVs are not currently suitable for going under
ice shelves. This is probably a niche for
larger, more complex instruments (like Autosub)
and ROVs. Can learn lessons from the airborne
unmanned vehicle communities for how to man, run
and support AUVs,
3
Some recommendations Would like manufacturers
of AUVs to reveal their estimates of the
probability of completing a (say) 200 km
mission. Install AUV at an Antarctic base so get
daily use with techs around. SOOS meeting in
September. Need submission from this meeting to
advocate using AUVs and gliders to monitor sea
ice thickness. Autosub 3 should be in the barter
arrangements with other nations, alongside ships
(it already is for European countries). CONMAP to
consider? Also hot water drilling. Use
FRISP/WAIS meeting in the autumn to develop
discussions further.