MBARI Benthic Rover travels across seafloor to monitor impact of climate change

This robot, the Benthic Rover, spent most of July 2009 traveling across the muddy ocean bottom, 900 meters below the surface and about 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore of the California coast. About the size and weight of a small compact car, the Benthic Rover moves very slowly across the seafloor, taking photographs of the animals and sediment in its path. Every three to five meters (10 to 16 feet) the Rover stops and makes a series of measurements on the community of organisms living in the seafloor sediment. The Rover is the result of four years of hard work by a team of engineers and scientists led by MBARI project engineer Alana Sherman and marine biologist Ken Smith.
These measurements will help scientists understand one of the ongoing mysteries of the ocean—how animals on the deep seafloor find enough food to survive.
For more information, see: http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2009/rover/rover-release.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• MBARI Benthic Rover
• Alana Sherman
• Ken Smith
• seafloor rover
• undersea rover
• climate change studies
• marine technology

[isheepwebcast]

1st

this thing is awesome