PANJIM: A robotic platform – Seabed Resident Event Profiler (SREP) – that can be stationed at any water depth down to 200 meters and targeted at studies related to monsoons, global climate and upwelling has been developed by Scientists of the Marine Instrumentation Group of CSIR – National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO).
The Southwest monsoons being the backbone of the country’s economy, knowing the conditions related to onset of monsoon is one of the major goals.
SREP is designed to track oceanic processes such as upwelling that occurs regularly during June to September along the west coast of India and are important for the ecosystem sustenance and fishery. The robot records the water column information regularly as programmed at every 10 to 25cm during every profile four times a day, stores the data and communicates the same to users at the institute. The robot, in its final configuration, will be able to sit on the seabed for 100 days continuously.
SREP was tested and deployed during the recent voyage of RV Sindhu Sadhana. It autonomously profiles the water column from as deep as 200 meters to surface of the sea. Underwater photograph of SREP at 26 m below the sea surface shows the system ready for profiling.
