AUV Mission Data Assimilation

After obtaining several underwater parameter data sets using AUVs, we began working on novel ways to integrate them into static and dynamic models. Currently we are working on developing 4D maps of dissolved Oxygen, as well as assimilating AUV data into a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In summer of 2010, we conducted several experiments in Hopavågen Bay, Norway. Oxygen sensors were attached to AUVs, which travelled around the bay. These experiments were successful in obtaining high-spatial-resolution data as well as temporal data, and we were able to use 3D models to improve estimates of the total amount of dissolved oxygen in a volume of water.