MRI: Acquisition of a versatile, integrative AUV system to support cross-disciplinary research and education in coastal and urban waters

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An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a mobile, deployable technology that enables detailed water column and benthic surveys at high-resolution spatial and temporal scales. This project supports the acquisition of a state-of-the-art, versatile, light-weight system, the REMUS 100 AUV (Hydroid, Inc.), to conduct novel, interdisciplinary research, education, and training activities focused on urban, coastal ecosystems. This sophisticated instrument will be based at the City University of New York (CUNY) and facilitate numerous partnerships across campuses, faculty, institutes, and citizen science research efforts to study the oceanographic processes of NY, NJ, and CT estuaries. Furthermore, integrating this technology within student programs will have considerable educational impact. CUNY is the nation's largest urban university with some of the country’s most ethnically, culturally, and socially diverse campuses, including both Minority and Hispanic Serving Institutions. Thus, the AUV will substantially enhance public engagement and the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM research and education. Students (undergraduate and graduate), postdocs, and other researchers will receive training and experience that expands future employment opportunities and competitiveness while broadening the understanding of ecosystem processes along urbanized coasts, feedbacks associated with global change, and improve coastal hazard preparedness. The populated NY and surrounding coastal ecosystems provide abundant natural and economic resources (shellfish/finfish, tourism, commerce). Yet, urbanization combined with low elevation makes the region vulnerable to global and anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, sea level rise, intense storms, and eutrophication. To prepare for these challenges, it is essential to refine the understanding and predictive capabilities of associated biogeochemical, geological, and physical features and processes at fine spatial and temporal scales. The AUV will enhance studies of the drivers, severity, and duration of hypoxia and algal blooms, fate and transport of pollutants and contaminants, sediment movement and benthic habitat, linkages between water optical characteristics and remote sensing results, and related questions. The REMUS 100 AUV is ideal for the NY regional coast because it is modular, small, easy to deploy, and designed specifically for shallow, estuarine waters. It enables detailed spatial coverage of concurrent water quality, sea floor texture, and optical evaluations which will uniquely enrich data with new observations at refined scales (beyond discrete water mass sampling) to catalyze novel, interdisciplinary connections (e.g., sediment transport and pollutant distribution; remote sensing and water mass sampling). Repeated surveys will allow researchers to develop, validate, and apply numerical, biogeochemical, and hydrodynamic data-based models to explain and predict processes and environmental hazards, thereby increasing coastal ecosystem and community resilience.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.