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Navy Tech Helps NOAA Find Sunken History
U.S. Navy mine-hunting technology has a potential dual use to help NOAA find historic shipwrecks by allowing maritime archaeologists to see below the seafloor. With greater resolutions and access to deeper depths, maritime archaeologists can better understand submerged cultural and historic resources without disturbing those sites. This technology was put through its paces at AUVfest 2008 from May 12-23 in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Hosted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, R.I., Navy technical teams deployed AUVs, or autonomous undersea vehicles, equipped with advanced mine hunting sensors. Teams will demonstrate several mine countermeasure mission objectives, including broad area searching and mapping capabilities, confined area searching capabilities, and buried mine hunting. A team of maritime archaeologists from NOAA, including representatives from other federal and state agencies, and universities employed this advanced technology to survey four shipwrecks, including HMS Cerberus, a 28-gun British frigate intentionally sunk along with other ships in 1778 to avoid capture by an approaching French fleet. "Historically, maritime archaeologists have not had access to as much advanced technology as we would like," said Frank Cantelas, a maritime archaeologist from NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. "By introducing maritime archaeologists to this new technology, NOAA hopes to significantly advance and support how archaeologists will search for sunken history." The theme of AUVfest 2008 was "Partnership Runs Deep: ONR Unmanned Mine-Hunting Technologies help NOAA Explore Sunken History." Seven previous AUVfests have been conducted since 1997. However, this was the first festival to focus on a dual-use civilian application of the AUV technology.
(Photo Credit: NOAA)
14 MTR
June 2008
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