Sea Technology

AUG 2012

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/77248

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 25 of 79

Conclusions Although the use of an AUV in restricted waters imposes sev- eral constraints, with appropriate safety measures and a close monitoring of environmental conditions, it can be a very useful tool for periodic water quality monitoring. The case presented here was a worst-case environmental scenario that provided crucial information regarding the safe use of these research platforms in an area considered high risk because of morphology and heavy human activity. In such sit- uations, it is important to create a standard procedure to sim- plify field operations, including following the manufacturer's operational procedures, with special attention to the trim and compass calibrations, and performing pre-dive reconnaissance tracks in areas with intense human activity. All these factors should be taken into account before the survey, as the survey paths and timelines have to be set up accordingly. Surveyors should plan enough checkpoints to visually test the status of the mission and vehicle safety, but not so many that it interferes with the main tasks, such as water sampling, mooring checks and CTD. This survey was intended as a trial to determine if the EcoMapper could work in a restricted area. The successful charting of tracks between the farm's rafts will lead to the next step of repeating the survey during different seasonal periods. Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank D. Fernandez, general director of PROINSA Mussel Farm (Lorbé). This study was supported by PROINSA, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) code 0704101100001, Xunta de Galicia PGIDIT09MMA038E and Ecological Sustainability of Sus- pended Mussel Aquaculture project ACI 2008-0780. CSIC's Department of Physiology and Mollusc Culture from the Instituto de Investigaciones Mariñas has been collecting physicochemical, biological and production data during the last 10 years in Lorbé Bay. CSIC's Marine Technology Unit supplied the AUV and tech- nical personnel for this study. David Roque is a glider technician at the Balearic Island Coastal Observing and Forecast- ing System. He has a master's degree in marine sciences and has worked at the Consejo Supe- rior de Investigaciones Cientificas and in the De- partment of Applied Physics at the University of Cadiz. Pablo Rodríguez is the technical manager of the Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory at the Unidad de Tecnología Marina (Spanish Research Coun- cil). He has a telecommunications engineering degree and worked with acoustical and geo- physical instrumentation for 15 years before moving to the AUV world. Uxio Labarta is a research professor at the De- partment of Physiology and Mollusc Culture at the Instituto de Investigaciones Mariñas. He has been working for 40 years in ecophysiology and mussel culture management in Galicia, Spain. 26 st / AUGUST 2012 www.sea-technology.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Sea Technology - AUG 2012
loading...
Sea Technology
Welcome!
If you're not a subscriber, please click here.