Acquisition of Unmanned Surface Vehicle for High-Resolution Mapping of the Shallow Seabed and Water Column

该项目使用最先进的无人水面飞行器（USV）在浅层海底（如牡蛎和海草床）和水柱（如温度和污染物水平）进行高分辨率测绘。海底和水柱测绘是提高我们对各种海洋过程的理解的基础，包括生态系统动力学、污染物运输和海岸线稳定性。为了评估各种活动和政策对水生栖息地和水质的影响，了解海平面上升和气候模式变化后的海岸变化，以及通过沉积记录重建古环境，需要详细了解近岸环境。同时跟踪标记物种和收集栖息地和海洋条件数据的能力将为渔业生态学开辟重要的新研究途径。这个USV提供的跨学科工具包在美国学术界是独一无二的。USV极大地扩展了北卡罗来纳州立大学海洋科学与技术中心（CMAST）的研究和教学资源，以及北卡罗来纳州中部海岸更广泛的海洋科学和教育企业（例如，北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校、杜克大学、NOAA和北卡罗来纳州海洋渔业部）。研究生可以在他们的研究中使用USV。本科生通过CMAST夏季研究员计划、梅里亚夏季研究学者计划、CMAST科学之家以及NCSU本科生研究办公室支持的项目加入使用该仪器的研究团队。USV仪器和项目的主要目标是推进河口和海岸系统内的多学科研究和教育。USV可以很容易地在国内和国际运输，用作浅水调查平台。USV配备了一系列最先进的科学仪器，包括测深和侧面扫描声纳、高频海底剖面仪、声学多普勒流速仪和多参数水质传感器。任务专用传感器包括现成的硬件，如用于跟踪声音标记的移动物种的声学接收器。USV及其传感器套件既可作为基于体验的教学工具，也可用于在河口和沿海环境中进行基础和应用研究。USV作为收费服务设施，通过进行调查员驱动的采样，广泛地为海洋和水生科学研究界提供服务。

This project uses a state-of-the-art Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) for high resolution mapping in the shallow seabed (e.g. oyster and sea grass beds) and water column (e.g. temperature and contaminant levels). Seabed and water column mapping are fundamental to improving our understanding of various marine processes, including ecosystem dynamics, contaminant transport, and shoreline stability. Detailed knowledge of the near-shore environment is needed to assess the impacts of various activities and policies on aquatic habitats and water quality, understand coastal change in the wake of rising sea-level and changing climate patterns, and reconstruct paleo-environments through the sedimentary record. The ability to simultaneously track tagged species and collect data on habitat and ocean conditions will open important new research avenues in fisheries ecology. The interdisciplinary toolkit provided by this USV will be unique within the U.S. academic community. The USV expands significantly the research and teaching resources of NC State University's Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST), as well as the broader marine science and education enterprise in the central NC coast (e.g., UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, NOAA, and the NC Department of Marine Fisheries). Graduate students are able to use the USV in their research. Undergraduate students join research teams using the instrument through the CMAST Summer Fellows Program, the Merial Summer Research Scholars Program, The Science House at CMAST, and programs supported by the NCSU Office of Undergraduate Research. The main goal of the USV instrument and program is to advance multi-disciplinary research and education within estuarine and coastal systems. The USV can easily be transported nationally and internationally to be used as a shallow-water survey platform. The USV is outfitted with an extensive suite of state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, including bathymetric and side-scanning sonars, a high-frequency sub-bottom profiler, an acoustic Doppler current meter, and multi-parameter water quality sensors. Mission specific sensors include off-the-shelf hardware such as acoustic receivers for tracking sonically tagged, mobile species. The USV and its sensor suite are used both as an experiential-based teaching tool and to conduct basic and applied research in estuarine and costal environments. The USV is made broadly available to the marine and aquatic science research communities by conducting investigator-driven sampling as a fee-for-service facility.