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Autonomous Benthic Explorer
Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) was a pioneering autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) owned and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. ABE was designed to perform wide-area seabed surveys at depths of up to 4500m (14,674ft) and completed 222 missions from 1996 until it was lost at sea in 2010. ABE pioneered the use of a relatively simple AUV to perform wide area surveys, identify points of interest, and “scout” for a more sophisticated manned vehicle or ROV. Design After hydrothermal vents were discovered using DSV ''Alvin'' in 1977, there was significant scientific interest in returning to previously surveyed vent sites. Since DSV ''Alvin'' was highly sought after, WHOI developed several unmanned platforms that could perform similar missions without the need for a human operator. ABE consisted of three torpedo-shaped hulls arranged in a shape similar to the fictional Starship ''Enterprise''. The upper two hulls each cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. In military applications an AUV is more often referred to as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs. History The first AUV was developed at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington as early as 1957 by Stan Murphy, Bob Francois and later on, Terry Ewart. The "Special Purpose Underwater Research Vehicle", or SPURV, was used to study diffusion, acoustic transmission, and submarine wakes. Other early AUVs were developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. One of these is on display in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umbilical Cable
An umbilical cable or umbilical is a cable and/or hose that supplies required consumables to an apparatus, like a rocket, or to a person, such as a diver or astronaut. It is named by analogy with an umbilical cord. An umbilical can, for example, supply air and power to a pressure suit or hydraulic power, electrical power and fiber optics to subsea equipment and divers. Spaceflight applications Rockets Umbilicals connect a missile or space vehicle to ground support equipment on the launch pad before launch. Cables carry electrical power, communications, and telemetry, and pipes or hoses carry liquid propellants, cryogenic fluids, and pressurizing and purge gases. These are automatically disconnected shortly before or at launch. Umbilical connections are also used between rocket stages, and between the rocket and its spacecraft payload; these umbilicals are disconnected as stages are disconnected and discarded. Space suits Early space suits used in Project Gemini in 1965 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boaty McBoatface
''Boaty McBoatface'' (also known as ''Boaty'') is the British lead boat in a fleet of three robotic lithium battery–powered autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) of the Autosub Long Range (ALR) class. Launched in 2017 and carried on board the polar scientific research vessel RRS ''Sir David Attenborough'', she is a focal point of the Polar Explorer Programme of the UK Government. ''Boaty'' and her two fleet-mates are part of the UK National Marine Equipment Pool and owned by the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. She is classified as an "autosub long range (ALR) autonomous underwater vehicle", and will use her onboard sensors to map the movement of deep waters that play a vital role in regulating the Earth's climate. Naming The name ''Boaty McBoatface'' was originally proposed in a March 2016 #NameOurShip online poll to name the £200 million polar scientific research ship being constructed in the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead for the United Kingdom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
REMUS 6000
The REMUS (Remote Environmental Monitoring UnitS) series are autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) made by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and designed by their Oceanographic Systems Lab (OSL). More recently REMUS vehicles have been manufactured by the spinoff company Hydroid Inc, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime. Hydroid was acquired by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HHI) in March 2020. The series are designed to be low cost, they have shared control software and electronic subsystems and can be operated from a laptop computer. They are used by civilians for seafloor mapping, underwater surveying, and search and recovery as well as by several navies for mine countermeasures missions. Models There are a number of variants of the REMUS; all are torpedo-shaped vessels with reconfigurable sensors. REMUS 6000 The largest model is the REMUS 6000 at long and in diameter; it is named after its maximum diving depth of 6000m. It can travel at speed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. In military applications an AUV is more often referred to as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs. History The first AUV was developed at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington as early as 1957 by Stan Murphy, Bob Francois and later on, Terry Ewart. The "Special Purpose Underwater Research Vehicle", or SPURV, was used to study diffusion, acoustic transmission, and submarine wakes. Other early AUVs were developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. One of these is on display in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at . After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the spreading oil utilizing skimmer ships, floating booms, controlled burns and of oil dispersant. Due to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentry (AUV)
The ''Sentry'' is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) made by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Sentry is designed to descend to depths of and to carry a range of devices for taking samples, pictures and readings from the deep sea. ''Sentry'' is the successor to ''ABE'' (Autonomous Benthic Explorer) and is designed for research at the mid-water and near-seabed depths. The AUV was first trialled in deep-sea operations off Bermuda in April 2006. ''Sentry'' is feet in height, wide (including thrusters) and long. Operation The ''Sentry'' is carried to its work location in a container containing all the systems necessary for operation. Communications can be established from land-based or ship-based locations for control and data reception. Systems Navigation ''Sentry'' navigates by means of a doppler velocity log combined with an inertial navigation system. These are used in conjunction with a USBL, or LBL, acoustic navigation system which is also used to communicate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chile Triple Junction
The Chile Triple Junction (or Chile Margin Triple Junction) is a geologic triple junction located on the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean off Taitao and Tres Montes Peninsula on the southern coast of Chile. Here three tectonic plates meet: the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate. This triple junction is unusual in that it consists of a mid-oceanic ridge, the Chile Rise, being subducted under the South American Plate at the Peru–Chile Trench. The Chile Triple Junction is the boundary between the Chilean Rise and the Chilean margin, where the Nazca, Antarctic, and South American plates meet at the trench. Tectonic plate movement The Antarctic Plate started to subduct beneath South America 14 million years ago in the Miocene epoch forming the Chile Triple Junction. At first the Antarctic Plate subducted only in the southernmost tip of Patagonia, meaning that the Chile Triple Junction lay near the Strait of Magellan. As the southern part of Nazca Plate and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BRP Gregorio Velasquez
BRP ''Gregorio Velasquez'' is Philippine Navy's first oceanographic research vessel. It was built by the United States Navy as USNS ''Melville'' (T-AGOR-14) for university support of Navy programs. The ship was operated as the research vessel R/V ''Melville'' by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for oceanography, oceanographic research. As the R/V ''Melville'', it was the oldest active vessel in the academic research fleet, collectively known as the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) (UNOLS). The US Government confirmed on 17 November 2015 that the ''Melville'' was to be transferred to the Philippine Navy as Excess Defense Articles (EDA)s. The vessel was officially transferred to the Philippines on 28 April 2016 and was commissioned into active service at the same time with the Philippine Navy. Construction ''Melville'' (AGOR 14) was laid down on 12 July 1967 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan, launched on 10 July 1968 sponsor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juan De Fuca Ridge
The Juan de Fuca Ridge is a mid-ocean spreading center and divergent plate boundary located off the coast of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The ridge separates the Pacific Plate to the west and the Juan de Fuca Plate to the east. It runs generally northward, with a length of approximately . The ridge is a section of what remains from the larger Pacific-Farallon Ridge which used to be the primary spreading center of this region, driving the Farallon Plate underneath the North American Plate through the process of plate tectonics. Today, the Juan de Fuca Ridge pushes the Juan de Fuca Plate underneath the North American plate, forming the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Discovery The first indications of a submarine ridge off the coast of the Pacific Northwest was discovered by the , a United States Navy sloop under the command of George Belknap, in 1874. Surveying a route for an undersea cable between the United States and Japan, the USS ''Tuscarora'' discovered a sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it is the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the U.S., with staff and students numbering about 1,000. Constitution The Institution is organized into six departments, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, and a marine policy center. Its shore-based facilities are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States and a mile and a half away on the Quissett Campus. The bulk of the Institution's funding comes from grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and other government agencies, augmented by foundations and private donations. WHOI scientists, engineers, and students collaborate to develop theories, test ideas, build seagoing instruments, and collect data in diverse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Baseline Acoustic Positioning System
A long baseline (LBL) acoustic positioning system is one of three broad classes of underwater acoustic positioning systems that are used to track underwater vehicles and divers. The other two classes are ultra short baseline systems (USBL) and short baseline systems (SBL). LBL systems are unique in that they use networks of sea-floor mounted baseline transponders as reference points for navigation. These are generally deployed around the perimeter of a work site. The LBL technique results in very high positioning accuracy and position stability that is independent of water depth. It is generally better than 1-meter and can reach a few centimeters accuracy. LBL systems are generally employed for precision underwater survey work where the accuracy or position stability of ship-based (SBL, USBL) positioning systems does not suffice. Operation and performance Long baseline systems determine the position of a vehicle or diver by acoustically measuring the distance from a vehicl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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