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航行器(USV)在浅海海底(例如牡蛎和海草床)和水柱(例如温度和污染物水平)进行高分辨率测绘。海底和水柱测绘是增进我们对各种海洋过程，包括生态系统动态、污染物迁移和海岸线稳定性的了解的基础。需要详细了解近岸环境，以评估各种活动和政策对水生生境和水质的影响，了解海平面上升和气候模式变化后的沿海变化，并通过沉积记录重建古环境。能够同时跟踪被标记的物种并收集关于栖息地和海洋状况的数据，将为渔业生态学开辟重要的新研究途径。USV提供的跨学科工具包在美国学术界将是独一无二的。USV大大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事业(如北卡罗来纳大学教堂山、杜克大学、美国国家海洋和大气局以及北卡罗来纳州海洋渔业部)。研究生能够在他们的研究中使用USV。本科生通过CMAST暑期研究员计划、梅里亚暑期研究学者计划、CMAST的科学之家以及NCSU本科生研究办公室支持的计划加入使用该仪器的研究团队。USV仪器和计划的主要目标是促进河口和沿海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上运输，作为浅水调查平台使用。USV配备了一整套最先进的科学仪器，包括水深和侧扫声纳、高频海底剖面仪、声学多普勒海流计和多参数水质传感器。特定于任务的传感器包括现成的硬件，如用于跟踪声学标记的移动物种的声学接收器。USV及其传感器套件被用作基于经验的教学工具，并在河口和海岸环境中进行基础和应用研究。USV作为一种收费设施，通过进行调查员驱动的采样，向海洋和水生科学研究社区广泛提供。

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.