A fleet of 10 marine robots has completed an ambitious two week mission off the Outer Hebrides while contending with a succession of Atlantic storms.
The mission involved the largest simultaneous deployment of marine robots yet attempted in UK waters, using seven submarine Seagliders and three surface Wave Gliders.
But winds gusts reached 60mph and waves reached up to 23ft and made for some challenging conditions.
Despite the storm battering, the fleet managed to collect the marine environmental data they needed to support the Royal Navy’s “Unmanned Warrior” programme.
This included specific information on ocean temperature, salinity, oxyfen, turbidity, tidal currents, surface weather and wave conditions.
The seagliders surveyed an area of 1,930 sq miles during the two weeks, venturing up to 77 miles off the island of Barra into waters deeper than 3,280ft.
The Wave Gliders ventured up to 93 miles north of Lewis, each covering a distance of more than 186 miles.
The mission was co-ordinated by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOC) and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Oban and involved more than 20 industry and government partners.
Professor Russell Wynn of NOC, chief scientist of the mission, said: “This mission benefitted hugely from the local knowledge at SAMS and the offshore expertise provided by the Royal Navy, which enabled us to safely deploy and recover the 10 vehicles in difficult conditions. It also highlighted the ability of marine robots to continue collecting high quality data in sea states that would have hampered or even terminated traditional vessel-based observations.”
Fraser Macdonald, who co-ordinated the SAMS contribution, said: “SAMS has a long history of working in this region. The unique Seaglider data collected during this mission will contribute to our ongoing research into the complex oceanographic processes that influence changes in global climate, including how increasing ocean temperatures are affecting the northeast Atlantic and adjacent regions including the Arctic.”
Unmanned Warrior features more than 50 vehicles, sensors and systems on the surface of the sea, underwater and in the air.
The exercise is being held at the same time as Joint Warrior, a UK-led Nato exercise held twice a year.
Military ranges and sites in Benbecula, Kyle of Lochalsh and off Applecross are being used for Unmanned Warrior.