MRI: Development of a Light-Tethered Undersea Robotic Vehicle for Seafloor Intervention in Ice-Covered Environments and Ship of Opportunity Deployment

MRI：开发一种轻型系留海底机器人车辆，用于冰雪覆盖环境中的海底干预和机会船部署

• 批准号: 1126311
• 负责人: Andrew Bowen
• 金额: $ 199.7万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1126311&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Light; Tethered; Undersea

US ocean and polar sciences currently lacks an effective capability for routine under-ice inspection, sampling, and instrument manipulation, whether at the ice-ocean interface, in the water column of ice-covered oceans, or at the underlying high latitude ice shelves and coastal grounding lines. The US oceanographic community additionally lacks appropriate remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capabilities that can be regularly deployed from typical Global Class support ships. This is particularly challenging if they are to be accommodated alongside substantive multi-disciplinary research teams on the same vessel. Polar seas and ice covered oceans present additional challenges. Conventionally tethered ROVs may be restricted in their placement, as the ice-resistant research ships from which they are deployed may be forced to drift with migrating ice over distances of 1 km in a matter of hours while over-the-side operations are underway. Consequently, such ROVs may not be able to stay on station in locations of specific interest, nor systematically survey across targeted sections of either the seafloor or, for other key science needs, the underside of floating ice-shelves.A multi-institutional team of oceanographic engineers and scientists will use the lightweight fiber-optic tether and optical modem technologies that have recently been pioneered at WHOI Deep Submergence to provide solutions to both of these obstacles. Specifically, it is sought to develop a new polar remotely operated underwater vehicle, provisionally denoted PROV, capable of deployments in polar (including ice-covered) ocean regions traditionally considered inaccessible, except for the specific case of thick ice cover that can be accessed from vehicles and instrumentation designed for through-ice deployment. In polar oceans, the vehicle will have a unique research role to play at the coastal seafloor, in mid-water, and at ice-ocean boundaries, ranging from studying heat-flow beneath the Arctic ice-cap, investigating melting beneath the terminal glacial outlets of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, investigating ecosystem function and productivity associated with the calving of icebergs, and annual onset and melting of sea-ice. The PROV will equip the polar ocean sciences research community with unique capabilities otherwise not available, enabling US polar and ocean scientists to continue to lead compelling and urgent research into one of Earth's most pristine and increasingly changing natural environments.

美国海洋和极地科学目前缺乏有效的冰下常规检查、采样和仪器操作能力，无论是在冰海界面、冰覆盖海洋的水柱中，还是在底层高纬度冰架和沿海接地线。美国海洋学界还缺乏适当的遥控潜水器（ROV）能力，无法从典型的全球级支援船上定期部署。如果他们要与实质性多学科研究团队一起住在同一艘船上，这就尤其具有挑战性。极地海洋和冰雪覆盖的海洋带来了额外的挑战。传统系留的 ROV 的放置位置可能会受到限制，因为在进行越边作业时，部署它们的抗冰研究船可能会被迫在几小时内随冰迁移漂移 1 公里。因此，此类 ROV 可能无法停留在特定感兴趣的地点，也无法系统地调查海底的目标部分，或者为了满足其他关键科学需求，无法对浮冰架的底部进行系统调查。海洋学工程师和科学家将使用最近在 WHOI Deep Submergence 上首创的轻型光纤系绳和光学调制解调器技术来为这两个障碍提供解决方案。具体来说，寻求开发一种新型极地遥控水下航行器，暂时称为PROV，能够部署在传统上被认为难以进入的极地（包括冰雪覆盖的）海洋区域，但可以从专为穿越冰面部署而设计的车辆和仪器。在极地海洋中，该车辆将在沿海海底、中层水域和冰洋边界发挥独特的研究作用，包括研究北极冰盖下方的热流、研究终端冰川下方的融化格陵兰岛和南极冰盖的出口，调查与冰山崩解相关的生态系统功能和生产力，以及每年海冰的出现和融化。 PROV 将为极地海洋科学研究界提供原本无法获得的独特能力，使美国极地和海洋科学家能够继续领导对地球上最原始且日益变化的自然环境之一的引人注目和紧迫的研究。