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AUVs Assist in Search

April 8, 2011

Members of the REMUS Operations Group Steve Murphy, Mark Dennett, and Robin Littlefield (left to right), pose with one of the REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) built in 2008 for the Waitt Institute for Discovery. The vehicles use side-scan sonar to map the ocean floor in long overlapping lanes—a survey process known informally as “mowing the lawn.” After data from large-scale surveys are analyzed and smaller regions of interest are identified, the vehicles can gather more detailed, up-close images on subsequent dives using their high-resolution cameras. Three of the vehicles were used to locate the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 off the coast of Brazil. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)