A pair of first-of-a-kind underwater drones embark this week on a mission to map coral reefs off the coast of Florida.
And after they get their feet wet on this task, so to speak, these "autonomous underwater vehicles" will be used around the world to scan the ocean floor and accumulate environmental and archeological data.
First up for the unmanned submarines will be a weeklong expedition to create high-definition sonar maps of the deep-water Lophelia coral reefs off the Treasure Coast, north of Palm Beach County.
The "AUVs" will be carried aboard the Seward Johnson, a research vessel of the Fort Pierce, Fla.-based Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Officially known as Remus 6000s, the robot subs have been nicknamed Ginger and Maryann after two of the shipwrecked ladies of the old TV series "Gilligan's Island."
Financed by the Waitt Institute for Discovery and developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the AUVs operate without tethers to a vessel at the sea surface.
Then, the underwater crafts "mow the lawn," going back and forth on a programmed path to create overlapping data lanes that combine to create a comprehensive map of the ocean bottom.
The Lophelia reef mapping is particularly important because the coral is threatened by bottom-trawling fishing boats and possible offshore oil exploration and drilling. This reef lies at 1,200 feet to 3,000 feet of water throughout the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean at sites as far north as Norway.
"With high-definition maps," said John Reed, a research professor at the H
harbor Branch division of Florida Atlantic University, said, "we can show exactly where the reefs that need to be protected are and also show areas where it would be OK to fish and explore for oil."
Once the autonomous underwater vehicles are finished mapping those reefs they're scheduled to take part, with the Seward Johnson research vessel, in an expedition to explore the waters in the central Pacific Ocean.
Dr. Dominique Rissolo, executive director of the Waitt Institute for Discovery, declined to give details of the mission but hinted that it involves obtaining archaeological rather than environmental data.
"It's not uncommon for archaeological operations to be under wraps in order to protect the site," Rissolo said by phone from his office in La Jolla, Calif.
But Rissolo was emphatic that the expedition was not "treasure hunting," an activity he called "an anathema to the goals of our non-profit organization."
Next, scientists at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute will get another shot at using the AUVs next fall in an expedition to map coral reefs in the central and south Pacific, said Shirley Pomponi, the Waitt institute's managing director.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is considering setting aside about 23,000 square miles of ocean above the Lophelia Reef along South Carolina and Florida for protection.
"If you destroy reef, you destroy habitat," said FAU professor John Reed, who has been studying and working to protect these deep corals for more than 30 years. "And if you destroy habitat, you destroy fisheries. So by fishing on these reefs, we're shooting ourselves in the foot."
(Tyler Treadway is a reporter for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers.)
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