Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/06/2007 - 17:59
Forums
Antarctic Undersea ROV

Dear Ms. Bell,

I was reading your information about the expedition you will be taking to Fairbanks and I was wondering what sparked your interest for such? Do you think these ROVs will become common to researchers? Other than the experience what are you looking forward to the most? Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

Christina Clark

Sun, 04/22/2007 - 14:31

Mindy

Hi Christina,Thank you for your question. I think ROV's are becoming more common as our technology improves because it is safer to send a Remotely Operated Vehicle into some places (like cold Arctic and Antarctic waters or into deep water) than to send a person. Our project will be testing to see how good the "vision" of the ROV is and how well it can be operated in the cold, dark, and deep waters under the Antarctic ice. Once they have tested what this ROV can do, then they will survey the bottom to look at the ecology of the seafloor. What organisms are living there? How has the ocean floor changed?
I got to go to Fairbanks for training for this program, but the actual project will be in Antarctica beginning in October.  I hope you can follow our project!
Are you interested in marine science and technology? Mindy