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

过去25年来，卫星观测明确表明，陆上冰加速流入海洋，现在是全球海平面上升的主要原因，对世界各地的沿海社区产生严重影响，并对经济和社会稳定产生连锁反应。在接下来的十年到本世纪，我们预测海平面变化的能力尤其受到我们对海洋和冰盖之间边界的关键过程缺乏了解的限制。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要么在空间上仅限于在少数地点进行测量，要么在时间上受到限制，因为海冰和迅速演变的冰川地貌使人们无法在超过几天到几周的时间内进入。稀缺的现有数据表明，同时观测冰川附近的海洋属性(热和盐含量、洋流)以及与之相关的冰和海底几何形状的演变是解开冰与海洋相互作用之谜的关键，我们需要新的工具来实现这种观测。英国新的极地科考船，RRS大卫·阿滕伯勒爵士号(SDA)是一艘最先进的结冰科考船，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采样区域。该项目建议通过利用机器人地面车辆的出现来增强美国农业部进入这一区域的科学能力。我们的愿景是使SDA成为高性能、中等耐力、商用的无人水面飞行器的母舰。这一运载工具将能够在几天的时间内独立、几乎同时观察水柱性质和冰川/海底几何形状，并由美国农业部运送到偏远地区。能够对这些浅(或深)、近冰川地区进行快速、安全和长时间(长达一周)的采样，有助于进行高分辨率研究，提供独特的、变革性的观测能力。该资产还将作为力量倍增器发挥作用，有效地充当第二艘船，在公开水域进行例行正在进行的观测，减少数据收集的碳足迹。该系统将能够收集通过卫星近乎实时地转发到全球数据库的几个基本海洋变量，从而为南方和全球海洋观测系统(SOOS/GOOS)作出贡献。反过来，这些观测将被用来约束和改进全球气候模型，减少气候项目中的不确定性。与NOC的海洋自主研究系统小组合作，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，确保想法的交叉授粉，在各种环境中测试传感器，并进一步提高英国在竞争激烈的机器人自主领域的地位。

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.