First results from a new interdisciplinary robotic vehicle for under-ice research
To increase the capabilities for spatially extensive under-ice investigations, the Helmholtz Infrastructure Initiative FRAM (FRontiers in Arctic marine Monitoring) enabled the Alfred-Wegener-Institute to commission a ROV system for sea ice studies. The system is composed of two redundant vehicle platforms with an extensive interdisciplinary sensor suite. It was built by Ocean Modules (Åtvidaberg, Sweden) in 2016 and immediately after acceptance tests taken on expedition to the Central Arctic. During the expedition PS101 of the german research icebreaker Polarstern, the vehicle was deployed during six sea-ice stations achieving a total of 10 different dives with over 22 hours of diving time, travelling a total horizontal distance of 11.5 km.