Sonardyne underwater positioning technology is supporting a climate science mission led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) that is using autonomous marine robots operating closer to glaciers than had previously been achieved.
The GIANT project is investigating how warming ocean water is causing Greenland’s tidewater glaciers to melt, and what this means for global climate. The UK’s polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough will deploy a fleet of aerial, surface and subsea autonomous vehicles as a connected observing system in the Kangerlussuaq Fjord region across July and August this year.
Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) positioning system, installed on the RRS Sir David Attenborough, and a Mini-Ranger 2 USBL system on the daughter craft Erebus, will track and control the formation operation of the mission’s underwater vehicles as they map the glacier’s underwater face.
The underwater vehicles include the UK National Oceanography Centre’s Autosub Long Range (also known as Boaty McBoatface), a Teledyne Gavia, and ecoSUB Robotics autonomous underwater vehicles. The mission also involves embedded robotic sensors, a DriX uncrewed surface vessel and aerial drones.
GIANT – which stands for Greenland Ice sheet to AtlaNtic Tipping points from ice loss – involves 15 collaborating institutions and five technology partners, and is backed by the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) as part of its Forecasting Tipping Points program.
Dr. Pierre Dutrieux, an oceanographer at BAS leading the ocean robotics research on RRS Sir David Attenborough, said the mission would help address gaps in current climate data.
“This is an exciting and ambitious mission using fleets of autonomous vehicles to help us gather data in otherwise extremely hard to access environments,” Dutrieux said. “The data they collect will help to transform how we forecast ice loss in Greenland’s fjords and improve early warning systems for tipping points that could reshape our planet’s climate.”
Michelle Barnett, business development manager for ocean science at Sonardyne, said the company’s systems provide the positioning layer that keeps the robotic fleet coordinated.
“Our acoustic and inertial systems provide the positioning layer that helps underwater robots know where they are, stay coordinated and return reliable scientific data,” Barnett said. “By helping those robots operate safely and accurately in one of the harshest environments on Earth, Sonardyne is enabling research that could improve climate models and deepen understanding of a critical global challenge.”
Because GPS signals do not function underwater, and visibility in the glacier environment can be near zero, the mission depends on acoustic and inertial navigation to keep multiple vehicles operating safely in formation.
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