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

自主式水下航行器（AUV）是一种移动的可部署技术，能够在高分辨率的空间和时间尺度上进行详细的水柱和海底调查。该项目支持采购一种最先进的、多功能的、重量轻的系统，即REMUS 100 AUV（Hydroid公司），开展以城市和沿海生态系统为重点的新颖的跨学科研究、教育和培训活动。这个复杂的仪器将设在纽约（CUNY），并促进跨校园，教师，研究所和公民科学研究工作的许多伙伴关系，以研究纽约，新泽西州和CT河口的海洋学过程。此外，将这项技术整合到学生项目中将产生相当大的教育影响。纽约市立大学是美国最大的城市大学，拥有一些全国最具种族、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在STEM研究和教育中的参与。学生（本科生和研究生），博士后和其他研究人员将接受培训和经验，扩大未来的就业机会和竞争力，同时扩大生态系统过程的理解沿着城市化海岸，与全球变化相关的反馈，并提高沿海灾害准备。人口稠密的纽约和周围的沿海生态系统提供了丰富的自然和经济资源（贝类/鱼类，旅游业，商业）。然而，城市化加上低海拔使该地区容易受到全球和人为压力因素的影响，如气候变化，海平面上升，强烈风暴和富营养化。为了应对这些挑战，必须在精细的空间和时间尺度上完善对相关地球化学、地质和物理特征和过程的理解和预测能力。自主式潜水器将加强对缺氧和藻华的驱动因素、严重程度和持续时间、污染物和污染物的归宿和迁移、沉积物移动和底栖生境、水体光学特性与遥感结果之间的联系以及相关问题的研究。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，专门为浅水，河口沃茨设计的。它能够详细的空间覆盖并发水质，海底纹理和光学评价，这将独特地丰富数据，在精细尺度上进行新的观测（超越离散水体采样），以促进新的跨学科联系（例如，沉积物迁移和污染物分布;遥感和水体取样）。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力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.