Late last month, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) engineers demonstrated using MBARI’s long-range AUV (LRAUV) for detecting and tracking oil spills.

The engineers, who worked with the US Coast Guard and collaborators at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), equipped an LRAUV with special instruments (fluorometers) that can detect oil in water. During the recent test in Monterey Bay, the MBARI team simulated an oil spill using non-toxic, biodegradable dye.

According to MBARI, the Coast Guard is very interested in testing robots that can find and track oil spills under ice; a capability that will be crucial as ship traffic and oil exploration expands in the Arctic Ocean, MBARI says.

MBARI notes that the LRAUV used in these experiments also carried instruments that will allow it to navigate beneath sea ice by bouncing sound waves off the underside of the ice.

After being placed in the water in Monterey Bay, the LRAUV was sent toward the plume. After the plume was detected using instruments on the LRAUV, the vehicle continued on its path, and measured the concentrations of dye within the plume, and recorded the areas of highest intensity.

Once the LRAUV crossed the outer edge of the plume, it automatically turned around and headed back toward the plume.

By repeating this process, the LRAUV was able to track the plume as it drifted through the water for several hours. According to MBARI, the test showed that the LRAUV could meet the Coast Guard’s initial goals for the vehicle.

“Everything worked well during the field test.” says Brett Hobson, MBARI’s principal investigator on this project. “The plume tracking still needs a little adjustment, but we’re working on that.”

A grant awarded by the US Department of Homeland Security to The University of Alaska’s Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) funded this research.

Following the recent field tests, the oil-spill tracking LRAUV was handed off to researchers at WHOI and the Coast Guard for more testing.