Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

Like Remotely-Operated Vehicles, AUVs are useful unmanned exploration vessels capable of going deeper, for longer, and at less cost and effort than manned submersibles. They have the added benefit of being able to act and move on their own and collect samples without constant direct input from a surface-based R/V control station.

An exploded drawing of the large AUV, the AUTOSUB, showing some of the instrumentation inside. (Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems Project - ChEss)

The AUV HUGIN being fitted with instruments prior to launch during a MAR-ECO research cruise. (Michael Palmgren, Klockargaarden film AB; see full-size image -- 105K)		The streamline shape of an AUV is apparent in this image of the AUTOSUB being recovered at the end of research. (Southampton Oceanography Centre)

Click on the links below to see what Census projects use this technology:

• Mid-Atlantic Ridge Ecosystems (MAR-ECO)
• Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems Project (ChEss)
• Census of the Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life (CeDAMar)