Autonomous glider withstands two hurricanes while transmitting continuous ocean data

Today, 100 miles disconnected the seashore of Texas, a 10-foot-long yellowish autonomous glider is riding waves arsenic it patrols the perimeter supra the NOAA Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

It is collecting h2o prime information related to water acidification, which is indispensable to monitoring the semipermanent endurance of the sanctuary's unsocial coral reef ecosystem, and transmitting it to a probe squad that includes Texas A&M University System scientists.

The Texas A&M Liquid Robotics WaveGlider SV3's 90-day deployment—the archetypal of its benignant successful the U.S.—is portion of a multi-institutional collaborative task funded by NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office Ocean Acidification Program (OAP). Project partners see the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies astatine Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University's Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG), the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS), Liquid Robotics, and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

But the WaveGlider's ngo has been bumpier than expected. It has survived 2 named hurricanes—Ida and Nicholas—since Texas A&M GERG scientists deployed it Aug. 13 into the Gulf of Mexico.

"The WaveGlider was riding 16-foot swells aft Hurricane Nicholas," said Steve DiMarco, prof of oceanography astatine Texas A&M and squad person for water observing astatine Texas A&M GERG. "Those are not seas wherever we privation to enactment a probe vas loaded with scientists and students. So, that's 1 crushed wherefore this autonomous glider is cleanable for this mission. It's the archetypal semipermanent operational monitoring of a coral reef successful U.S. waters utilizing an autonomous aboveground conveyance (ASV)."

This feat shows the important relation that autonomous systems tin play successful collecting invaluable water data—even successful the look of utmost upwind events, the probe squad said.

The main researcher starring the task is Xinping Hu, seat for ecosystem subject and modeling astatine the Harte Research Institute and subordinate prof successful the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences astatine Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

"Our laboratory has been moving with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary since 2013 collecting seawater carbonate data," Hu said. "But illustration collections person been mostly connected a seasonal ground and trust connected the sanctuary's probe vessel, the R/V Manta. The WaveGlider offers an fantabulous accidental for america to continuously show this country for an extended play of clip with unprecedented temporal resolution. We can't hold to spot what the on-board sensors volition uncover for the full deployment."

Researchers enactment unneurotic to support marine sanctuary

The groundbreaking enactment is being made imaginable done collaborations with respective partners. DiMarco is co-leading the research, portion Kerri Whilden, GERG adjunct probe idiosyncratic and GCOOS oceanographer, is starring at-sea logistics, sensor integration, deployment and betterment operations. Liquid Robotics technicians are remotely piloting the ASV.

Credit: Texas A&M University

The WaveGlider ngo enactment is provided by the GCOOS glider-piloting dashboard and information portal known arsenic GANDALF. In summation to providing real-time conveyance positioning information, GANDALF tin amusement information layers that tin beryllium individually displayed connected the basal map, including disposable and infrared outer images, oversea aboveground somesthesia and chlorophyll images, oversea aboveground heights and navigational charts.

"The Flower Garden Banks is simply a stunningly beauteous coral reef, and it's conscionable disconnected the Texas coast," said Anthony Knap, manager of GERG. "Not galore radical cognize astir it, but it is precise good known successful the diving community. We're funny successful it scientifically due to the fact that it's susceptible to the harmful effects of water acidification, which tin origin bleaching and decease to corals, and if the gathering blocks of a reef, corals, commencement to die, past each the remainder of that ecosystem—the fish, the turtles, the whale sharks, each the beingness that depends upon that coral reef—could besides beryllium successful danger."

DiMarco said determination has been caller past of mortality events astatine this location.

"In 2016 determination was a truly atrocious die-off of the coral, and it was attributed to debased oxygen h2o that bathed that coral reef and caused bleaching of the coral heads," DiMarco said."This benignant of monitoring provides assets managers timely accusation truthful they tin respond to aboriginal threats."

Autonomous glider gives continual data, reduces costs and risks

The WaveGlider's 90-day solo voyage is an important trial tally for water science.

If it tin successfully patrol supra the marine sanctuary, regularly measuring and transmitting h2o prime data, past a full caller acceptable of possibilities volition unfastened up for oceanographers: remote, continual information postulation that is not babelike connected a unchangeable sea-state, arsenic probe vas voyages are.

"Our occupation present is to make an autonomous conveyance that we could nonstop retired connected patrol alternatively of relying connected an expensive, weather-dependent ship-based squad to show this important reef," DiMarco said. "And since Aug. 13, our ASV squad has demonstrated the operational capableness to enactment a data-collecting strategy similar this retired determination and person it patrol around."

The WaveGlider deployment from the R/V Pelican included a divers squad of scientists, technicians and students. On committee from Texas A&M were main idiosyncratic DiMarco, chemist Piers Chapman, ASV operations person Whilden, and students Ellen Laaker, Samantha Longridge, Reshmi Joseph, Sakib Mahmud and Xiao Ge. The Texas A&M Corpus Christi squad included Hu, postdoctoral researcher Hang Yin, technician Cory Staryk, and students Molly Brzezinski, Nicole Kumbula and Kenzie Merrill.

The deployment was a one-of-a-kind acquisition for those students and postgraduate students, and the value of their enactment is clear, the scientists said: if the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary is not protected from ocean acidification, its corals and full ecosystem are successful danger.

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