Spray AUV Starts Gulf Stream Round Trip

Posted 25 Mar 2005 at 17:04 UTC by steve

According to a WHOI Oceanus article, the Spray UAV started a seven week round trip from Bermuda across the Gulf Stream and back yesterday. The 6 foot long underwater robot completed it's first one-way Gulf Stream trip under remote control in September of 2004. To dive, Spray uses a hydraulic pump to move mineral oil between two bladders, changing the robots volume much like the swim bladder in a fish. Research hope to someday have fleets of similar autonomous gliders sailing the worlds oceans to collect physical and chemical data. For more on Spray, see the WHOI Spray FAQ and the Scripps Spray home page.