Second Coffee with EUMR

The EUMarineRobots (EUMR) project is glad to announce the second “Coffee with EUMR” webinar on Wednesday, 24 February 2021 at 11 AM CET. The second webinar will be hosted by PLOCAN and will consist of two short talks by invited PLOCAN collaborators. The first talk is titled “A Mediterranean eddy characterization using Glider and altimetry data” and will be given by Dr. Luísa Lamas from the Hydrographic Institute. The second talk is titled “Identification of the dynamics of biofouled underwater gliders” and will be given by Dr. Enrico Anderlini from the University College London.

Webinar link:

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The abstracts of the talks and short speakers' biographies follow:

Abstract “A Mediterranean eddy characterization using Glider and altimetry data”

In recent years, the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute (IHPT) has been collaborating with PLOCAN to establish sustained glider observations across the Northeastern Atlantic. Here, we analyze data collected by an autonomous underwater glider in the first deployment of the observation line between Portugal and the Canary Islands. Preliminary results of the hydrographic characterization of the transect will be presented in this study with focus on the influence of MW and the characteristics of a Meddy identified on the Tagus Abyssal Plain.

Luisa Lamas

holds a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the University of Lisbon and currently works as an oceanographer at Instituto Hidrográfico. Her research interests are focused on the synergetic use of multiplatform data to study ocean dynamics. For the last 10 years she has participated in several national and international projects where she was involved in the development and implementation of high-value services and products using a combination of satellite and in-situ data.

Abstract “Identification of dynamics of biofouled underwater gliders”

Marine growth has been observed to cause a drop in the horizontal and vertical velocities of underwater gliders, thus making them unresponsive and needing immediate recovery. Currently, no strategies exist to correctly identify the onset of marine growth for gliders and only limited datasets of biofouled hulls exist. Here, a field test has been run to investigate the impact of marine growth on the dynamics of underwater gliders. A Slocum glider was deployed first for eight days with drag stimulators to simulate severe biofouling; then the vehicle was redeployed with no additions to the hull for a further 20 days. The biofouling caused a speed reduction due to a significant increase in drag. Additionally, the lower speed causes the steady- state flight stage to last longer and thus a shortening of mission duration. As actual biofouling due to p. pollicipes happened during the deployment, it was possible to develop and test a system that successfully detects and identifies high levels of marine growth on the glider using steady-state flight data. The system will greatly help pilots re-plan missions to safely recover the vehicle if significant biofouling is detected.

Enrico Anderlini

is a senior research fellow at the University College London in the Marine Research Group. His research focuses on the fault-tolerant control and fault diagnostics of marine systems, including autonomous underwater vehicles. Enrico is currently leading a project on assuring autonomy with the design of anomaly detection and fault diagnostics solutions for marine autonomous systems. Additionally, he was involved with a field test funded by EUMarineRobots in collaboration with PLOCAN in 2020.

For more information about Coffee with EUMR visit https://www.eumarinerobots.eu/news/second-coffee-eumr-webinar