3 days ago
Rhody the robot helps Lake Ontario expedition to make a splash
May 30—OSWEGO — The National The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deepwater Shipwreck Expedition at Lake Ontario wraps up today, and the two-week mission has created stunning results with the help of a remotely operated vehicle making its inaugural dives.
"This has been a first of its kind expedition in a sanctuary," said Holly D. Pettus, deputy expedition leader. "We've used the University of Rhode Island's brand new ROV, Rhody, to document shipwrecks in order to construct awesome 3-D models."
The ROV was developed by the URI Graduate School of Oceanography.
The expedition set out on May 18 from Oswego aboard the 180-foot research vessel Lake Guardian, owned by the EPA.
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the University of Rhode Island's Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute collaborated on the project.
"It's been so cool to take Rhody on its maiden voyage and to see it in action for the first time," said expedition photographer and videographer Marley Parker. "I've been impressed by how reliable Rhody has been in this expedition and it's been amazing seeing it get in the water and doing its thing all day, every day."
A U.S. National Marine Sanctuary, managed by NOAA, is a zone where the marine environment enjoys special protection.
The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, designated last year, acts as an educational and cultural gateway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean and protects culturally significant places, resources and artifacts integral to American history and the heritage of indigenous peoples.
The sanctuary features a collection of 63 known shipwrecks and one known submerged aircraft, among the best preserved in the world, discovered over decades by local recreational scuba divers and shipwreck explorers. It ends just past Tibbetts Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent, where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence River.
Pettus and Parker, both from OCEI, spoke Wednesday during a live-streamed video of expedition highlights. They said 12 shipwrecks had been documented in the expedition, with a goal of 14. They were confident they would reach the goal by the end of the expedition today.
"I've been so amazed by this team," Parker said. "When I first looked at the expedition plan and saw that it had 14 shipwrecks in two weeks, I thought there was no way we could do that. I've worked on a lot of ships and rarely worked on a team as tenacious as this one — getting after it every day."
The expedition is a 24-hour operation, Parker added.
"During the day, our ROV team is up early and getting the ROV in the water, first thing. We often do multiple dives in one day. They close up shop in the evening and then our mapping team comes online. The team has been imperative to making this expedition as successful as it's been. They have identified many new, previously undiscovered wrecks within this sanctuary and we've been able to pinpoint their locations with survey maps."
Pettus said that with a team of skilled divers, it could take more than five days to explore and document a shipwreck.
"Yesterday, we completed four dives," she said. "We are all systematic and have gotten into a great rhythm, and that's allowed us to move pretty quickly."
The expedition targeted shipwrecks not accessible to most SCUBA divers. "The typical recreational SCUBA diver can only go to about 120 feet," Pettus said. "A lot of the wrecks we've been going to are over 200 or 300 feet and sometimes much deeper."
"Not to mention how much more efficient and quickly Rhody can make these maps and imagery happen, compared to humans," Parker said.
Expedition technology, Pettus said, has rapidly advanced in the past two decades. Software developments have allowed the creation of 3-D models of shipwrecks with stunning accuracy. Another promising element is the ability to have Rhody remotely operated. For example, during it's Lake Ontario mission, it was controlled at one point by Jake Bonney at the University of Rhode Island.
"In the future, it's going to look a lot different in another 10 or 20 years from now," Pettus said. "We're going to see a massive increase in remote piloting. That opens up all kinds of opportunities."
Pettus said Rhody could be used for emergency response or to simply check out underwater architecture.
"It's an instrument that can easily mobilize," Parker said. "I'm excited to look back years from now after Rhody has done multiple projects and maybe even some emergency response work and to look back and think, 'I remember when Rhody was brand new and on its first expedition.'"
The Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute team will return home to Rhode Island after today.
"Meanwhile, the marine archaeologists will spend hundreds and hundreds of hours reviewing and closely examining all of the data we've captured, because they are basically hunting for clues in the footage of what and where to find artifacts within these vessels that could help them to glean information about the exact identifications of some of these wrecks," Parker said.
"This baseline information will help protect and preserve these artifacts on the bottom of the (lake) floor," Pettus said. "The small but mighty team at NOAA's office of Marine Sanctuaries are working hard to make sure all of these wrecks are protected, preserved and the ones that can be accessed will be properly buoyed, so the public can come out and enjoy these things as well."
