Australia's Antarctic division tests submarine in country's deepest lake

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-13 12:01:55|Editor: Liangyu
Video PlayerClose

SYDNEY, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists have tested an automated submarine in the country's deepest lake before setting it to use beneath the freezing waters of Antartica later this year.

The seven meter, 1,600 kilogram unmanned autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) will be deployed beneath sea ice and ice shelves to collect important data from these extremely difficult to access areas.

"This summer the vehicle will be going to Antarctica for the first time," AUV facility manager Peter King told Xinhua on Monday.

"So in advance of that we did a bit of a dress rehearsal at Lake St Clare which is a high altitude, very deep, cold water lake."

Lake St Clare is located in Australia's southernmost State of Tasmania, which due to its extreme southerly latitude, acts as a base for much of the nation's Antarctic research.

The University of Tasmania led project aims to provide new insight into the role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the global climate system, exploring over 1,000 metres beneath the frigid Antarctic waters.

For it's maiden mission, the team will launch the vehicle from the Davis research station before travelling 11 km to the Sorsdal Glacier, during which time the AUV will travel along the surface of the water, controlled by a team in a small chase boat.

However, once the AUV dives beneath the surface to start collecting data, it will be completely independent from the research team, mapping the shape of ice formations and collecting water and sediment samples autonomously.

"Once we get out to our destination and want to run an actual mission we basically program it a set of tasks and waypoints," King said.

There is not a lot known about the conditions the team will be exploring meaning the first steps will be to test the AUV's capacity, slowly increasing reach and depth as it proves its capability.

"There are examples of AUVs that have gone underneath the ice before and a couple have gone underneath the ice shelf," King said.

"But it's a very small club."

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001373866501
国产无码在线观看免费在线,37pao国产成视频,日韩一区二区视频在线,国产国产人免费人成免费视频麻豆
亚洲a人一区二区免费 | 午夜大片免费观看日本毛 | 日韩高清在线观看一二三区 | 亚洲乱码中文字幕综合视频 | 午夜亚洲国产理论片中文 | 欧美、日本v视频在线播放 亚洲国产一区二区三区啪 一区二图三区国产精品 |