Development and deployment of an unmanned iceberg observation system for off-shore industry and iceberg modelling
Besides their apparent beauty and majestic appearance and economic impact on seasonal tourism along the iceberg alley, icebergs represent a significant threat to marine transportation and off-shore operations. Fundamental to the industries iceberg management plan is an escalating iceberg detection-observation-intervention and possible asset relocation plan. In this presentation I will present our approach to provide operators with better and more detailed information about icebergs and their meteorological and oceanographic environment. I will present the development and deployment of an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) SeaDragon. The second part of the overall observation system is a modified Slocum type underwater glider. The co-registered data collected from both platforms, from above and below water will be presented. Both vehicles navigate autonomously around icebergs to collect shape and met-ocean data. To conclude I will show an overview of a new platform under testing, the unmanned submersible surface craft (USSC) SeaDuck. The new vehicle concept is a direct outcome of the operational experience and client input from the operation of USV SeaDragon and the hybrid underwater glider.