Wynn, RB, Huvenne, VAI, Le Bas, TP et al. (11 more authors) (2014) Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs): Their past, present and future contributions to the advancement of marine geoscience. Marine Geology, 352. 451 - 468. ISSN 0025-3227
Abstract
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have a wide range of applications in marine geoscience, and are increasingly being used in the scientific, military, commercial, and policy sectors. Their ability to operate autonomously of a host vessel makes them well suited to exploration of extreme environments, from the world's deepest hydrothermal vents to beneath polar ice sheets. They have revolutionised our ability to image the seafloor, providing higher resolution seafloor mapping data than can be achieved from surface vessels, particularly in deep water. This contribution focuses on the major advances in marine geoscience that have resulted from AUV data. The primary applications are i) submarine volcanism and hydrothermal vent studies, ii) mapping and monitoring of low-temperature fluid escape features and chemosynthetic ecosystems, iii) benthic habitat mapping in shallow- and deep-water environments, and iv) mapping of seafloor morphological features (e.g. bedforms generated beneath ice or sediment-gravity flows). A series of new datasets is presented that highlight the growing versatility of AUVs for marine geoscience studies, including i) multi-frequency acoustic imaging of trawling impacts on deep-water coral mounds, iii) collection of high-resolution seafloor photomosaics at abyssal depths, and iii) velocity measurements of active submarine density flows. Future developments in AUV technology of potential relevance to marine geoscience include new vehicles with enhanced hovering, long endurance, extreme depth, or rapid response capabilities, while development of new sensors will further expand the range of geochemical parameters that can be measured.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY 3.0 license |
Keywords: | Autonomous Underwater Vehicle; AUV; marine geoscience; seafloor mapping |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Sep 2014 09:50 |
Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2014 09:50 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.012 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.012 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:80292 |