Biology, Physics and Chemistry – Celtic and Irish Seas

The Story of Autosub

Biology, Physics and Chemistry – Celtic and Irish Seas

2000

Celtic and Irish Seas

Autosub 2

Aboard the support vessel MV Terschelling, Autosub 2 became the first AUV to carry a Flow Cytometer – an optical instrument to characterise single phytoplankton cells and particles using light scatter and fluorescence.

The experimental Cytosub was produced by Cytobuoy NV of the Netherlands. On another expedition, the vehicle was fitted with multiple acoustic instruments including a bubble resonator and sidescan sonar in support of the “Sonar and turbulence studies of the upper ocean” project.

Subsequently, a manganese sensor was fitted in support of the “Dissolved and particulate manganese and oxygen in the water column of the upper basins of two hypoxic sea lochs” project.