Robot divers to
report on Lake Superior's depths
by Dan Kraker, Minnesota Public Radio
DULUTH, Minn. — With its frigid, often ice-choked water and legendary
storms, Lake Superior can be a dangerous place for scientists to conduct
research. "In Lake Superior, the season where it's nice to go out there is
relatively short," University of Minnesota Duluth physics professor Jay
Austin said. But he said "there's science year round out there." Aiming
to tap the wealth of information deep inside Lake Superior, Austin and other
researchers are preparing to send two mechanical divers in the big, cold lake
for a long time. They plan to test one of the divers Wednesday. Funded by a
$485,000 National Science Foundation grant, the new devices, called
"Autonomous Moored Platforms," will travel up and down the depths on
cables anchored to the lake bottom. They'll collect readings on water
temperature, currents and a long list of other data points. In the long run
they could actually save researchers money. A single day on a research vessel
costs roughly $7,000. Austin, lead investigator on the new project at the
school's Large Lakes Observatory said the technology will offer a view of Lake
Superior science has never had before.
Read rest see pics here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/08/07/science/automated-underwater-research-platform/
I wonder if they will
find Pressie the Lake Superior Serpent?
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