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Deep Sea exploration with the RV Southern Surveyor
11 January – 1 February 2008

Voyage 01/08 11Jan-1Feb 08 reports from the ship >view Exploring the Deep Sea Learn about the voyage objectives, meet the voyagers >more Seeing Underwater With the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) >more

The ABE: Seeing Underwater

The Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) is a fully autonomous vehicle used for survey of the deep seafloor for depths of 5000 meters. ABE produces bathymetric and magnetic maps of the seafloor and has been used to quantitatively survey hydrothermal vents.

ABE carries no pilot, so it’s not limited by an air supply and can stay at work deep below the surface for days at a time before its batteries run out. During such extended stays, ABE can map the sea floor with unprecedented detail, picking out objects smaller than a meter in size. The vehicle also takes digital photographs of the sea floor which ecologists use to identify deep-ocean life. Geologists use ABE's magnetic readings to understand the evolution of the sea floor ocean crust

More information about ABE:

• The Autonomous Benthic Explorer [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution website]
• Ocean Instruments [sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]

Modified: 6/05/11

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