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BP is to deploy a pair of wave and solar-powered unmanned vehicles in the Gulf of Mexico to provide near constant monitoring of water quality.
The satellite-controlled vehicles, known as Wave Gliders, use no fuel, have no motors, and no propellers - but they can swim in any direction at speeds up to two knots for as long as necessary. They use a patented system for converting even the tiniest amount of wave motion into thrust, in any direction, while using solar panels to power electronics. The vehicles also house a sophisticated set of sensors.
The Wave Gliders, developed by Liquid Robotics in California, will be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico for one month. Mike Utsler, chief operating officer of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation, said: “These vehicles will provide us with a steady stream of data about water quality and should significantly increase the available data for ongoing research activity. We will initially deploy the Wave Gliders between the well and the shoreline, and look to expand from there in the future.”
The on-board sensors will be used to monitor water quality - detection of any emulsified, dissolved and dispersed oil in water; phytoplankton (chlorophyll) and coloured, dissolved oxygen matter. They will also measure weather and water temperature data.
Data will be brought to shore in real-time and displayed on a public web page. Hydrophone data will be recorded and stored on board, for periodic retrieval, with streaming audio planned in the near future.
Although this is the first time a Wave Glider has been deployed in the Gulf of Mexico, the vehicle has been extensively used by marine scientists to monitor the environment. A single Wave Glider, Stripes, launched in December 2008, has been at sea for over 600 days, travelling 15,500 miles. Two Wave Gliders, Honu and Kohola, traveled from Kona, Hawaii to San Diego, California – 2,750 miles in 79 days.
