UK’s largest ever marine robot fleet takes to the seas

It is the third in a series of demonstrator missions run by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), and sees the biggest ever robot fleet operating simultaneously in UK waters. A total of seven submarine gliders and three surface Wave Gliders will collect environmental data, feeding it back to the Royal Navy in real time. After Unmanned Warrior has ended, the data will be made available to the wider scientific community.

“This deployment will showcase the capabilities of marine robots to the Royal Navy, and other defence and industry partners,” said the NOC’s Professor Russell Wynn, chief scientist of the mission.

“The results will also inform the wider scientific and environmental community of the benefits of these new technologies as an alternative to manned vessels, which are relatively expensive to operate and have a larger environmental impact.”

As well as collecting basic information on ocean temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity, and near-surface weather conditions, the gliders will also be measuring ocean currents, water depth, and the abundance of plankton in hotspots where different bodies of water meet. According to the NOC, some of the vehicles will be travelling over 150 km offshore of the Outer Hebrides, and venturing into waters up to a mile deep.