Platform – Page 3

ROAM-MIZ successfully deploys a fleet of autonomous technology to observe small-scale processes in the Antarctic sea ice

ASV, Drifter buoy, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Seaglider, SG Semla, Southern Ocean, SWIFT / March 18, 2020 April 7, 2020

Louise Biddle summarizes the Austral winter-spring season for this robotics heavy project:

The ROAM-MIZ (Robotic Observations And Modelling in the Marginal Ice Zone) project aims to capture high resolution observations of how the upper ocean near and under sea ice responds to sea ice growth or melt. The team, led by SCOOT’s director Sebastiaan Swart at the University of Gothenburg, deployed multiple platforms in, and at the edge of, the marginal ice zone in austral winter and spring 2019. Using the South African icebreaker, the SA Agulhas II, as a deployment platform, three profiling ocean gliders (Seagliders), a surface glider (Offshore Sensing Sailbuoy), multiple wave-recording surface floats (SWIFT buoys) and two ice-moored buoys were deployed between 56-60°S. Between the 10 platforms, over 370 days of data were collected from this remote and under-sampled region of the Southern Ocean, with the longest continuous time-series of over 130 days.

The challenges that the deployment team and platforms faced included rapid freezing up of sensors in temperatures that dropped to minus 20°C (before wind chill), rough seas and rapid movement of sea ice floes. With support from collaborators around the world including CSIR (South Africa), CalTech (USA) and University of East Anglia (UK), this project has demonstrated that autonomous instrumentation holds the capability to explore and monitor some of the most inaccessible oceans on Earth. Data is now being processed by the team based at the University of Gothenburg, with the “live data” viewable on roammiz.com and the first paper recently published in Geophysical Research Letters. Projects update can be followed on @PolarGliders .

Project website: www.roammiz.com

Paper: Swart, S., du Plessis, M. D., Thompson, A. F., Biddle, L. C., Giddy, I., Linders, T., et al. ( 2020). Submesoscale fronts in the Antarctic marginal ice zone and their response to wind forcing. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL086649. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086649

Twitter: @PolarGliders

Seaglider deployment from SA Agulhas II
Sailbouy in the Southern Ocean
Sea ice work in the Southern Ocean, with SA Agulhas II
SWIFT buoy in the Southern Ocean
Work with Seaglider on deck of SA Agulhas II, master student Hanna Rosenthal and PhD student Isabelle Giddy.
SA Agulhas II in the ice in the Southern Ocean

Join ODF Sweden in the The Koster seafloor observatory!

Biodiversity, Citizen Science, Data, Data Factory, Environmental monitoring, Koster Marine National Park, ROV, Video / March 6, 2020 December 21, 2021

Ocean Data Factory Sweden (coordinated by SCOOT) is now stepping into a truly demanding territory: Automated species recognition in subsea images. See the promo video and join the The Koster seafloor observatory online on Zooniverse!

About The Koster seafloor observatory

At the Koster seafloor observatory we want to know how climate change and human activities influence Sweden’s marine ecosystems.

For the last 20 years, we have used Remotely Operated Vehicles and cameras to monitor the Kosterhavets National Park (click images above for example videos!). A highly-diverse and unique marine reserve in the south of Sweden. Now, we need your help identifying the habitat, species, and presence of litter recorded in over 3,000 hours of underwater videos.

Your answers will allow us to filter out crucial information from the recordings and study how the fauna on the sea floor has changed in response to warmer waters, fishing activities, and changes in environmental protection.

Submerge yourself among large sponges, starfish, and cold-water corals to help us understand the health of the Koster’s sea floor and how we can better protect it.

Words from project owner Victor Valdes

The researcher

“We are excited to bring you a new way to dive into Sweden’s first marine national park. By classifying the underwater videos you will explore our unique marine biodiversity and enable us to better understand the health of Sweden’s marine ecosystems.”

Learn more!

Saildrone visits Gothenburg

ASV, Saildrone, Workshop / September 24, 2019 April 7, 2020

The Saildrone is one of the most advanced autonomous ocean surface platforms. SCOOT is very pleased to announce that they are visiting us in Gothenburg. They will give an open presentation on October 1st. Welcome!

DATE: Tuesday 01 October 2019, 12:15 pm
LOCATION: Carl Skottsbergs Gata 22B
SPEAKERS: Sebastien de Halleux, COO, Liz Douglas, International Partnerships
Working with a variety of institutions and governments globally, Saildrone designs and manufactures wind and solar powered unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) which make cost-effective ocean data collection possible at scale and in near real-time. Saildrone USVs carry a full suite of ocean and meteorological sensors, with the option to include other instruments for research such as air-sea fluxes, biomass, bathymetry, and carbon and . Saildrones have been successfully deployed for months in challenging regions of the global oceans.
In this workshop, Sebastien and Liz will detail Saildrone’s capabilities and report on recent missions in the Southern Ocean, the North Sea, the Atlantic, and upcoming missions in the Mediterranean. Typical investigations in these regions include measuring air-sea fluxes and how they may be impacting global energy, hydrological, and carbon cycles. Sebastien and Liz will give a live demo of the Mission Portal, followed by an open discussion regarding in-situ observation needs and challenges from participants.

SCOOT goes all in

ASV, AUV, Demo, Hugin, Innovation, Ran, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Seaglider, SG Semla, SP SeaCat, SunChallenger, Workshop / July 1, 2019 July 13, 2019

Do you want to learn and test what/where/how autonomous platforms can measure in the ocean. Do you already have experience and want to meet other experts? This is the workshop for you! More info about available resources and schedule here.

SCOOT’s fleet of autonomous vessels and robots will be available, together with support vessels, technicians and experts. Specifically this includes SCOOT’s flagrobot, the AUV Ran. SCOOT is proud of the coverage Ran’s achievements has got in media, e.g. in Roling Stone, Public Radio International and Swedish public service television.

Our host for this workshop is Institute of Marine Research, belonging to Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

Please contact us if you interested in participating!

SCOOT welcomes SunChallenger II to Gothenburg

ASV, Citizen Science, Demo, Innovation, SunChallenger, Workshop / June 17, 2019 December 21, 2021

Difficult winds will unfortunately mean that the SunChallenger II will not make to Gothenburg on June 19. Constructor Jonas Blanck will nevertheless be there and explain his project.

On Wednesday June 19, SCOOT will welcome the newly launched SunChallenger II to Gothenburg. SCOOT is an eager friend of the SunChallenger project. SCOOT director Seb Swart leads the welcoming committee, which includes representatives from GU, MMT Sweden AB, Chalmers University of Technology and Research Institutes of Sweden. Everybody is invited to join us! The event is hosted by MMT Sweden AB and takes place at Nya Varvet, starting in the marina at 9.30 am. After lunch we continue with a seminar/discussion about what to expect from projects and platforms such as the SunChallenger.

Specifications SunChallenger II: 16 ft Catamaran, 5x 300W glass-glass Solar panels, 2x MPPT solar chargers, 2x 500W electric trolling motors, 5x 12v 80Ah Lifepo4 batteries, 2x Raspberry Pi, 2x Jetson Nano, Dual GPS, Compass, PiCamera, 360° camera, 4G modem, AIS transponder, CHIRP DownVision Sonar & Fishfinder, water/air temperature, pH, Conductivity sensor, CO2 sensor, wind sensor, LED Lanterna, Horn, Flag.

National Research & Innovation Agenda for Underwater Technology

AUV, Environmental monitoring, Innovation / June 4, 2019 June 29, 2019

SCOOT is active in SubTechSweden, a network of actors who want to strengthen innovation in underwater technology in Sweden. SubTechSweden now releases NRIA-U 2019 (National Research & Innovation Agenda for Underwater Technology). The agenda has a very clear main recommendation: Sweden needs “a joint programme for underwater technology, funding and coordinating basic research, applied research and demonstrations (TRL 1 – 6)”. NRIA-U 2019 is an updated version of NRIA-U 2016.

SubTechSweden emphasises that the underwater innovation area can help to meet the UN sustainability goals, the Government’s Maritime Strategy and Sweden’s underwater capability (decided by the Government to be a “significant national security interest”). NRIA-U 2019 mentions specifically the need for underwater technology in ocean science, monitoring, spatial planning and management. The achievements of SCOOT’s flagrobot AUV Ran under the Antarctic ice shelves are mentioned as a good example of innovation, together with platforms for infrastructure inspection, illustrated with MMT’s Surveyor Interceptor.

SCOOT demonstrate drone-drone interaction

ASV, Demo, Innovation, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, SP SeaCat / April 13, 2019 May 23, 2019

What is a drone? Most people imagine something flying, but to the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, a drone can just as well be vehicle on or under water. SCOOT takes advantage of this wide definition to take part in Vinnova’s programme “Drones of the future”. SCOOT will demonstrate autonomous launch and recovery of the unmanned 60 kg Sailbuoy (Offshore Sensing AS) by the unmanned 500 kg SP SeaCat (SP Marine Tech).

The demonstration is part of Drone Center Sweden’s demo days on May 14th – 15th in Västervik, South-eastern Sweden. The SCOOT demo is part of the water session on the afternoon on the 14th. Even in the water session, we will be the only project demonstrating drones actually on the water… The project is a collaboration between University of Gothenburg, Research Institutes of Sweden Chalmers, University of Technology, Alkit Communications AB, SP Marine Tech AB, Depåservice AB.

Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) Sailbuoy, for long endurance scientific monitoring, manufactured by Offshore Sensing AS.

Come and meet us! SCOOT open 8 May

ASV, AUV, Data, Demo, Hugin, Innovation, Ran, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Seaglider / April 9, 2019 May 23, 2019

“Robots giving YOU data from the ocean”

On May the 8th we open the SCOOT doors at Nya Varvet in Gothenburg, to anyone interested in the ocean, data from the ocean and methods for collecting ocean data. Come and meet the researchers and the robots! Most of all, come and tell us about your ideas: SCOOT wants to support your innovation. Read the full program. SCOOT open is part of #gbgtechweek and #EUinmyregion.

Mission completed: First Sailbuoy on the southern hemisphere

ASV, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Southern Ocean / March 14, 2019 May 23, 2019

On March 1st University of Gothenburg’s surface glider SB Kringla was successfully retrieved to the South African icebreaker SA Agulhas II. For 78 days she has relentlessly battled the waves in the Marginal Ice Zone along the Greenwich meridian, see graph below. SB Kringla is the first Offshore Sensíng Sailbuoy to be deployed and retrieved on the southern hemisphere. She has measured ocean surface temperature and salinity, together with surface wind, temperature and pressure in the atmosphere. Data from SB Kringla as well as from diving Seagliders can be viewed at ROAM-MIZ. Do you have ideas about surface gliders or diving gliders? Contact us.

Selected data output (Wind direction and latitude) from SB Kringla during the mission Dec 17, 2018 – March 1, 2019. Note the failing weather station on Feb 7.

We are suspecting that SB Kringla has encountered an iceberg during the mission. It is likely this happened on February 7 when the weather station started to fail. On retrieval we could see that the sensor head of weather station was cracked and that there were substantial damage to the sail. Amazingly she had continued, with no apparent effect on sailing performance!

SB Kringla (Offshore Sensing Sailbuoy) being retrieved after a 2.5 month mission in the Souther Ocean.

Damage to the sail of SB Kringla (Offshore Sensing Sailbuoy) during mission in the Southern Ocean. Iceberg collision?

AUV Ran in the headlines

Antarctica, AUV, Hugin, Ran / March 14, 2019 May 23, 2019

If you are first to go under the under Antarctic ”doomsday glacier” (and making it back!), you will get headlines. SCOOT’s flag robot, AUV Ran, together with professor Anna Wåhlin and her team feature both in rock ‘n’ roll magazine Rolling Stone and in a radio show from PRI’s The World. Links:

As always, SCOOT wants to put hardware and data in the hands of people with ideas. Interested in AUV Ran? Please contact us. She will be back from Southern Ocean in time for hands on workshop 17 – 20 June on Bornö at the west coast of Sweden.