Submersible robot launches from Keys in search of oil

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http://www.keysnet.com/2010/05/26/222818/submersible-robot-launches-from.html


Waldo went west from Key West Tuesday, looking for oil.

Shaped like a 6-foot torpedo, Waldo is an automated underwater robot deployed by Mote Marine Laboratory that now patrols south-flowing waters from the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current.

It's what's called an autonomous underwater vehicle normally rigged to detect organisms that cause red-tide blooms.

Now, for the first time, Mote's AUV fleet seeks signs of oil or chemical dispersants from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

"We hope these underwater robots will alert us to any threats that our reefs might be facing because of the oil," said David Vaughan, director of Mote's Center for Coral Reef Research.

One of three AUVs operated by Mote for the past decade, the bright-yellow Waldo was carried Tuesday by a Mote boat based at Summerland Key to a spot about 15 miles west of Key West to begin its three-week patrol.

The $100,000 robot follows a programmed track, surfacing every two to four hours to transmit via satellite to Mote staff in Sarasota real-time information about what's happening deeper in the water column.

Previously, satellite imagery tracking the spill could only show what is happening at the surface.

Many oceanographers suspect there may well be deeper plumes of oil that have not been detected.

"If we do get data indicating there may be oil or dispersants, we'll send out a boat with researchers to verify the findings," said Mote communications director Nadine Slimak.

Mote launched a similar AUV May 17 off Florida's west coast on oil patrol. As of Tuesday, that first robot had not detected any signs of crude oil or dispersants. Mote's third AUV will soon be launched to patrol for oil south of Tampa Bay.

"It's not really logistically possible to have humans in boats covering these wide areas, constantly looking for signs of the oil spill coming toward our shores," said Gary Kirkpatrick, manager of Mote's AUV missions. "But we have these great robots that can do this 24 hours a day for three weeks in a row, so it's important we use these tools."

Any boaters who spot the AUV should leave it alone, Slimak said. "We don't want to see it taking a trip down Duval Street," she said.

Waldo is using a device called a fluorometer that detects chemical dispersants and hydrocarbons from crude oil. It maneuvers in a vertical zig-zag by way of expelled water flowing over its angled wings.
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