UGA to launch robotic submersible, 'Salty Dawg'

Great news from the department of marine sciences:

UGA physical oceanographer Renato Castelao and colleague Ruoying He of North Carolina State University will launch two autonomous underwater vehicles called gliders in fall 2013. UGA's Salty Dawg and NCSU's Salacia, named for the Roman goddess of salt water, will remotely collect data on the exchange of water between the coastal ocean off Georgia and the Gulf Stream.

"The oceans are chronically under-sampled, and it is difficult and expensive to deploy traditional instruments in the water to measure them," said Castelao, an assistant professor of marine sciences in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and the project's principal investigator. "Gliders provide a cost-effective way to increase the number of observations we collect by the sheer number and detailed analysis of samples they can collect over time."

Efficient and cost-saving intruments to explore the oceans. Our demand for data creates new pressures for our research scientists. Castelao and colleagues at other institutions are working together to create and implement new solutions. Congratulations and we look forward to the launch of Salty Dawg and Salacia later this year.

Image: UGA photo of Renato Castelao and the glider Salty Dawg