AUVs are programmable, robotic vehicles that can drift, drive, or glide through the ocean without human control. They often communicate through satellite signals or underwater acoustic beacons, sending data back to scientists on a ship or onshore in near real-time. Some AUVs can also make decisions on their own, changing their mission based on environmental data they receive through sensors. Deployed from a surface ship, AUVs allow scientists to conduct other experiments while the vehicle is off collecting data elsewhere– maximizing the amount of research that can be accomplished with expensive ship time.
Some AUVs are designed for long-range missions, which open up new horizons for rapid-response research in the most remote regions of the planet. A long range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) developed by the WHOI Scibotics Lab, in collaboration with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, can follow a preprogrammed mission in an 1,800-kilometer (1,120-mile) radius, even under ice. It can remain under ice at depths up to 300 meters (984 feet) for weeks, sniffing out chemical anomalies and images and relaying the data back to dry land via acoustic signal and a network of remote-ocean buoys and satellites.
Gliders are winged, low-power autonomous underwater vehicles that generate forward thrust by changing their buoyancy and glide angle as they repeatedly dive and surface through the water. While vertically see-sawing their way through the water column, gliders collect oceanographic data like salinity and temperature. Some gliders can detect the presence of phytoplankton and even whales and noise-making fish like cod. Often used to carry out missions up to six months long, gliders periodically resurface to send their data back to labs on land via satellite link.
