Smart Robotic Rover Assists Scientists in Monitoring Impact of Climate Change on Ocean

Ocean depths are difficult to access and research due to the vastness of the deep sea and the technological limitations of operating in such an extreme environment. As a result, scientists know more about the moon's surface than they do about the deep seabed. MBARI is addressing this discrepancy by utilizing advances in robotic technology.

Benthic Rover II, an autonomous robotic rover, has revealed fresh insight into life on the abyssal seabed, 4,000 meters (13,100 ft) below the ocean's surface. The creation and long-term functioning of this rover are described in research published today in Science Robotics.

This ingenious mobile laboratory has further illuminated the importance of the deep sea in carbon cycling. The information gathered by this rover is critical to comprehending the effects of climate change on the ocean.

"The success of this abyssal rover now allows for long-term monitoring of the coupling between the water column and the seafloor," MBARI Senior Scientist Ken Smith said. "Understanding these connected processes is critical to predicting the health and productivity of our planet engulfed in a changing climate."

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Deep-Sea Carbon Cycling

Despite its distance from the sunny shallows, the deep seabed is connected to the seas above and is critical for carbon cycling and sequestration. Organic stuff, including dead plants and animals, mucous, and discharged waste, sinks slowly to the seabed through the water column. Some of this carbon is digested by the population of creatures and bacteria on and in the mud, while the remainder may be stored in deep-sea sediments for thousands of years.

Although the deep sea plays an essential role in the carbon cycle and climate on Earth, we still know very little about the activities thousands of meters beneath the surface. In addition, engineering challenges, such as severe pressure and the corrosive nature of saltwater, make sending equipment to the abyssal bottom investigate and monitor carbon ebb and flow challenges.

Smith and other scientists have studied carbon consumption by deep seabed ecosystems using fixed sensors. However, these devices could only be used for a few days at a time. MBARI has created a long-term solution for monitoring the abyssal seabed based on 25 years of engineering innovation.

"Exciting occurrences in the deep water tend to happen quickly and at unpredictable intervals, which is why continuous monitoring with Benthic Rover II is so important," said Alana Sherman, Electrical Engineering Group Lead. "You're more likely to miss the major event if you're not watching all of the time."

The strenuous effort of a collaborative team of MBARI engineers and scientists, coordinated by Smith and Sherman, resulted in Benthic Rover II.

Benthic Rover II's Mission

MBARI engineers created Benthic Rover II to withstand the deep sea's cold, corrosive, and high-pressure environments. This rover, made of corrosion-resistant titanium, plastic, and pressure-resistant syntactic foam, can sustain deployments as deep as 6,000 meters (19,700 ft).

"We had to create a computer control system and software dependable enough to function for a year without failing - nobody is there to hit a reset button," MBARI Electrical Engineer Paul McGill revealed. "The electronics also have to use very little power so that we can carry enough batteries to last a year, and the rover uses an average of about two watts - roughly the same as an iPhone."

Benthic Rover II is roughly the size of a compact automobile, measuring 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) long, 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) broad, and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) high, and it glides over the muddy ground on two wide rubber tracks.

MBARI's vessel, the R/V Western Flyer, is used to launch Benthic Rover II. The rover is gently lowered into the sea and then let free-fall to the ocean floor by the ship's crew. The rover will arrive at the bottom in roughly two hours. The rover may begin its mission once it comes on the seafloor.

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