Mar Menor AUV 2011 Experiment

Motivation

Our motivation for this experiment held in the Mar Menor lagoon area, near Cartagena, Spain are to understand:

  1. the capacity of the lagoon as a biological buffer and to understand the exchange of water between the Mediterranean Sea and the lagoon.
  2. the process of conducting complex multi-vehicle robotic experiments in near shore waters.
  3. to build advocacy and enthusiasm with the next generation of scientists and roboticists for marine robotics in Spain.

From November 3rd to Nov 10th, 5 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle robots will be operating in near-shore waters off Mar Menor, Cartagena, Spain.

The origin of this activity was a 2 day meeting starting November 15th 2010 at SARTI, Vilanova where the participants compared notes and realized the complementary nature of the research activities being conducted by the individual groups in science, engineering and operations in Spain, Portugal and the United States.