Bloom with a View: Robot Subs Help Researchers Study Mysterious Antarctic Sea Life

Having tested their mettle in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, automated sea gliders are deployed in polar-opposite conditions to investigate short-lived phytoplankton blooms.

The GPS-guided Seagliders at times operated beneath 100 meters of ice, although the researchers generally tried to avoid directing the subs below ice where they cannot get a satellite signal for prolonged periods of time. When they are out of GPS range the gliders use deduced reckoning (aka "dead" reckoning) to calculate their position and navigate using their last known coordinates until they can resurface and reestablish a GPS link. The deepest dives were about 500 meters and lasted no more than three hours at a time.

The scientists are still parsing the data collected by the gliders' sensors. A conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) sensor was used to measure water temperature and salinity, which will help researchers calculate the its density and potential to mix with water flowing in from other locations. Researchers are hoping that the Seagliders' three optical sensors shed light on the water's biological properties, including the amount of oxygen and the presence of chlorophyll.

 

Read the full new: Scientific American