Augmenting Capabilities of the RRS Sir David Attenborough through an Unmanned Surface Vehicle

通过无人驾驶水面车辆增强 RRS 大卫·阿滕伯勒爵士的能力

• 批准号: NE/V017209/1
• 负责人: Pierre Dutrieux
• 金额: $ 191.13万
• 依托单位: British Antarctic Survey
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FV017209%2F1
• 关键词: Augmenting; Capabilities; RRS; Sir; David

Over the past 25 years, satellite observations have unequivocally demonstrated an accelerating flow of land-based ice into the oceans, now a major contributor to global sea level rise with severe implications for coastal communities worldwide, and knock-on implications for economic and social stability. In the next decade to century, our ability to predict sea level change is particularly limited by our lack of understanding of critical processes at the boundary between oceans and ice sheets. This ice-ocean frontier is particularly challenging to characterize and investigate, as typical in situ observational techniques tend to be either limited in space to measurements in a few locations and in time, as sea-ice and a rapidly evolving glacial landscape precludes access over time periods exceeding a few days to weeks. The scarce available data indicates that concurrent observation of near-glacier ocean properties (heat and salt content, currents) and the associated evolution of the ice and seabed geometry is key to unlock the mysteries of ice-ocean interactions, and we need new tools to achieve such observations. The UK's new polar research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough (SDA) is a state-of-the-art ice capable research vessel for making novel measurements in remote locations. Yet the near-glacier and shallow water zone remains a challenging area to sample safely. This project proposes to enhance the SDA's scientific capability into this zone, by capitalising on the advent of robotic surface vehicles. Our vision is to make the SDA the mothership to a high-performance, mid-endurance, commercially available unmanned surface vehicle. This vehicle will enable independent, near-simultaneous observation of water column properties and glacier/seabed geometry over the space of a few days, transported to the remote location by the SDA. The ability to sample these shallow (or deep), near-glacier areas at speed, safely and over prolonged timescales (up to a week), facilitates high-resolution studies, providing a unique and transformative observational capability. The asset will also work as a force multiplier, effectively acting as a second ship to carry out routine underway observations in open waters, reducing the carbon footprint of data collection. The system will be capable of collecting several essential ocean variables relayed in near-real time via satellite to global databases, thereby contributing to Southern and Global Ocean Observing Systems (SOOS/GOOS). In turn, these observations will be used to constrain and improve global climate models and reduce uncertainties in climate projections.Collaboration with NOC's Marine Autonomous Research Systems group will further integration of UK's state-of-the-art facilities, exchanging knowledge in marine and polar autonomous platforms, ensuring cross-pollination of ideas, testing of sensors in various environments, and furthering UK's stature in the ultra-competitive domain of robotic autonomy.

在过去的25年里，卫星观测明确表明，陆基冰正在加速流入海洋，这是全球海平面上升的一个主要原因，对全球沿海社区产生了严重影响，并对经济和社会稳定产生了连锁影响。在接下来的十年到一个世纪里，我们预测海平面变化的能力尤其受到限制，因为我们对海洋和冰盖之间边界的关键过程缺乏了解。这一冰海边界的特征和调查尤其具有挑战性，因为典型的现场观测技术往往限于在少数地点和时间上的测量，因为海冰和迅速演变的冰川景观使人们无法在几天到几周的时间内进入。现有数据的匮乏表明，同时观测冰川附近的海洋特性（热量和盐含量、洋流）以及冰和海底几何形状的相关演变是解开冰-海相互作用之谜的关键，我们需要新的工具来实现这种观测。英国的新极地研究船，RRS大卫·阿滕伯勒爵士号（SDA）是一艘最先进的冰能力研究船，用于在偏远地区进行新的测量。然而，近冰川和浅水区仍然是一个具有挑战性的安全取样区域。该项目建议通过利用机器人地面车辆的出现来提高SDA在该区域的科学能力。我们的愿景是使SDA成为高性能、中等续航时间、商用无人水面飞行器的母舰。该车辆将在几天的时间内实现对水柱特性和冰川/海底几何形状的独立、近同时观察，并由SDA运送到偏远地区。快速、安全、长时间（长达一周）对这些浅（或深）、近冰川地区进行采样的能力，促进了高分辨率研究，提供了一种独特的、变革性的观测能力。该资产还将作为力量倍增器，有效地充当第二艘船，在开放水域进行常规航行观察，减少数据收集的碳足迹。该系统将能够收集几个基本的海洋变量，通过卫星几乎实时地传送到全球数据库，从而为南方和全球海洋观测系统（海洋观测系统/海洋观测系统）作出贡献。反过来，这些观测将用于约束和改进全球气候模式，并减少气候预估中的不确定性。与NOC海洋自主研究系统集团的合作将进一步整合英国最先进的设施，交流海洋和极地自主平台方面的知识，确保思想的交叉交流，在各种环境中测试传感器，并进一步提高英国在机器人自主领域的地位。