UK mapping and monitoring projects
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) at Southampton is to head two projects collectively worth £720,000 for investigating use of robot submarines.
They would be used to map and monitor seas around the UK for acquisition of data affecting future government policy on protection of marine environments.
The first project, from March to September next year, covers the feasibility of using AUV and glider technology for mapping and monitoring the UK’s MPA (Marine Protected Areas) network. Worth £370,000, it is financed as part of the Department for the Enivronment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) marine biodiverstiy research and development programme and will also involve the British Geological Survey and the Scottish Association for Marine Science.
Due to begin later this year with fieldwork continuing until 2014, the second venture is funded by a £350,000 grant from Defra’s Strategic Evidence and Partnerships Fund (SEPF). It will basically support new AUV and glider data acquisition in UK shelf waters carried out under the auspices of the NOC as part of its recently launched MARS (Marine Autonomous and Robotics Systems) facility, which was awarded a grant of £2.85m earlier this year by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS). The technology involved is said to be capable of generating data of higher quality and in more hostile environments than is possible with ship based surveys.
