D6.4 Identification report on under-ice monitoring capabilities of AUVs

It is clear that autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) play a pivotal role in the monitoring and exploration of the under-ice environment primarily because they can explore areas that are too dangerous or too costly for manned systems to remain in for any productive length of time. With the impending impacts of climate change on the horizon, their role becomes increasingly imperative in predicting the environmental consequences for not only polar environments but global systems as a whole.

AUVs can potentially be equipped with several sensor payload, however their main limiting factors when operating in dynamic ice-covered habitats, is primarily due to difficulties in obtaining accurate position and adapting to events outside their preprogramed mission.

This report compiles an inventory of commercial and scientific AUVs that have been used under ice in the Arctic Ocean and/or regional seas around Antarctica. A large range of internal and external sensors have been demonstrated in those applications. In particular CTD, optical backscatter sensors and O2 sensors appears to be common sensors necessary in all cases, while acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is often required in those polar missions. Applications include bathymetric mapping, resource exploration and inspections of hydrothermal vents, mapping ice structure and monitoring of phytoplankton dynamics. Those operations are challenged by the difficulties in operating under the ice including problems in the navigation, obstacle avoidance and long endurance missions.

Despite these challenges, with the rapid advances in computing power and machine learning, the research on autonomous operations under the ice is progressing at an unprecedented rate. It is conceivable that AUV technologies including adaptive sampling and cooperative robotics will play in the future a significant role for high-resolution mapping and inspection in Arctic environments.