University of Delaware Scientists Take Underwater Robot on Black Sea Expedition
Using a novel underwater robot, University of Delaware marine scientists will help reveal the mysteries of the Black Sea’s geology and maritime history, including ages-old shipwrecks, during an international expedition that is now underway.
The Institute for Exploration and the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography are leading the mission, which will conduct geological and archaeological research in the Aegean and Black Seas--waterways that have served as major trade routes for centuries. Robert Ballard, professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, and president of the Institute for Exploration, is the principal investigator on the research cruise, which will include a multidisciplinary team of scientists from several nations.
The research vessel NRV Alliance will serve as the scientists’ home, lab and the platform from which remotely operated vehicles with high-definition cameras will be deployed to provide high-resolution images of the deep.
From the Ukrainian research vessel Flamingo, Art Trembanis, UD assistant professor of marine and Earth studies, and graduate students Adam Skarke and Stephanie Nebel, together with colleagues from the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire and Ballard’s own team, will operate the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) DOERRI (pronounced “Dory”), which stands for “Delaware Oceanographic and Environmental Research Remote Instrument.”
The 83-inch-long, 240-pound DOERRI, which Trembanis designed, will map the seafloor of the Black Sea off Sevastopol, Ukraine, on missions up to 14 hours long and to depths of approximately 200 meters (656 feet).
The DOERRI carries a sophisticated sensor system including devices to measure salinity, temperature and oxygen levels and two types of advanced sonar systems for mapping the seafloor. Multiple computers and safety features work in tandem to keep the systems operating, and to safely return the vehicle back to the ship at the end of each day.
Locally, DOERRI has been used in a variety of research in Delaware’s coastal waters, including nearshore areas of Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and in Delaware’s Inland Bays.
Live video from the expedition will be available on the web site of Immersion Presents, the expedition’s education partner http://www.immersionpresents.org, on the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography web site at http://iao.gso.uri.edu and on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Explorer web site at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
The expedition is supported by NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration, the Office of Naval Research and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Participating institutions include the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, University of Texas, Institute for Classical Archaeology, Naval Meteorological and Oceanography Command, University of Delaware, University of Massachusetts at Boston, University of New Hampshire and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Contact
Tracey Bryant
P: 302-831-8185
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August 17, 2007
