Today is our last full day out to sea on this workshop cruise. We’ll be deploying the Gavia AUV and tasking it with doing some bottom mapping over one of Delaware’s artificial reefs. The water depths are most likely too shallow for the RV Sharp to safely travel over this section of the reef, which… Continue reading →
Today’s operations were over the artificial reef site off the coast of Delaware where the USS Arthur W Radford was scuttled. In preparation for the operations, the RV Hugh R Sharp made several passes over the area with its multibeam echosounder or swathe system to map the seabed and get a more precise location for… Continue reading →
What do you do when you’ve got a diverse group of scientists and the weather is a tad too iffy to deploy underwater robots? You hold an impromptu Science Friday session and hear about some of the exciting work that the other scientists are doing of course!
Willie Flemings and Kerry Whilden from Texas A&M University Geochemical and Environmental Research Group brought an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) called an AutoNaut to test out on the cruise. The AutoNaut was deployed from the Sharp and the ship followed it for the next several hours, keeping it in sight. The first attempt at recovering… Continue reading →
Seas were a tad rough earlier today, so the deployment of the second AUV was scrubbed for the day. The RV Sharp headed back to the Bay and began doing multibeam ops over the artificial reef that is home to the USS Arthur W. Radford in preparation for upcoming ROV operations and higher resolution scans… Continue reading →
One of the objectives for Samuel Georgian on this cruise was to collect and analyze water samples for pH and total alkalinity in an effort “to help us better understand carbonate chemistry dynamics in coastal environments”. Sam made good use of the Sharps CTD (Conductivity, Temperature & Depth) system to get his samples. The CTD… Continue reading →
Day one of the underway ops is slated for AUV deployments off the continental shelf. The RV Sharp departed around 11pm from Marine Operations in Lewes and headed offshore for the deeper waters of Baltimore Canyon. Sarah Webster from the Applied Physics Library at the University of Washington has a Sea Glider to deploy and… Continue reading →
The safety of the crew and the scientists on board are top priority. Sean McNulty gave all of the workshop participants a run-down on the ship, drills, safety on board and how to properly use and get into the personal flotation devices & immersion suits.
Load-in has begun in preparation for the UNOLS Robotics Platforms Chief Scientist training cruise aboard the RV Hugh R Sharp in Lewes, Delaware. Scientists will be filtering in throughout the day.
