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

自主水下航行器（AUV）是一种可移动、可部署的技术，可以在高分辨率的空间和时间尺度上进行详细的水柱和底栖生物调查。该项目支持采购最先进的多功能轻型系统REMUS 100 AUV （Hydroid公司），以开展新颖的跨学科研究、教育和培训活动，重点关注城市和沿海生态系统。这台复杂的仪器将设在纽约城市大学（CUNY），并促进校园，教师，研究所和公民科学研究工作之间的众多合作伙伴关系，以研究纽约，新泽西和CT河口的海洋学过程。此外，将这项技术整合到学生课程中，将对教育产生相当大的影响。城市大学是全国最大的城市大学，拥有全国最具种族，文化和社会多样性的校园，包括少数民族和西班牙裔服务机构。因此，AUV将大大提高公众参与和代表性不足的群体对STEM研究和教育的参与。学生（本科生和研究生）、博士后和其他研究人员将获得培训和经验，扩大未来的就业机会和竞争力，同时拓宽对城市化沿海生态系统过程的理解，与全球变化相关的反馈，并改善沿海灾害防范。人口稠密的纽约及其周边沿海生态系统提供了丰富的自然资源和经济资源（贝类/鱼类、旅游、商业）。然而，城市化加上低海拔使该地区容易受到气候变化、海平面上升、强烈风暴和富营养化等全球和人为压力因素的影响。为了应对这些挑战，必须在精细的空间和时间尺度上完善相关生物地球化学、地质和物理特征和过程的理解和预测能力。水下航行器将加强对缺氧和藻华的驱动因素、严重程度和持续时间、污染物和污染物的命运和运输、沉积物运动和底栖生物栖息地、水光学特性和遥感结果之间的联系以及有关问题的研究。REMUS 100 AUV是纽约地区海岸的理想选择，因为它是模块化的、小型的、易于部署的，并且专门为浅水、河口水域设计。它可以对同时发生的水质、海底结构和光学评估进行详细的空间覆盖，这将独特地丰富数据，在精细尺度（超越离散的水质采样）上进行新的观测，从而促进新的跨学科联系（例如，沉积物运输和污染物分布；遥感和水质采样）。重复调查将使研究人员能够开发、验证和应用基于数值、生物地球化学和流体动力学数据的模型来解释和预测过程和环境危害，从而提高沿海生态系统和社区的恢复能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.