Teleoperated ROVs Visit the Lost City

Posted 2 Aug 2005 at 19:20 UTC by steve

Roland Piquepaille writes, "A large team of oceanographers is again exploring 'Lost City', a hydrothermal vent field located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which was discovered in 2000 and named like this because of the myth of Atlantis. But this time, the oceanographers are not on a ship. Most of them are in a room at the University of Washington in Seattle. And according to an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, they're using high-speed Internet connections to control robotic vehicles exploring the deep Atlantic Ocean thousands of miles away. Thanks to satellites, the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) Argus and Hercules can transmit videos back to Seattle in real time. After analysis, the scientists can move the ROVs to specific areas of interest without having their feet wet." For more details on the project see Roland's latest blog entry or the Lost City Hydrothermal Vent website which includes a photo gallery.