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Embryonic AUV

Every oceanographic vehicle is brought from concept to reality by a team of engineers. The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry was conceived by Barrie Walden, Al Bradley, and Dana Yoerger at WHOI. Al Duester, Steve Liberatore, and Martin Bowen helped take it from the drawing board to the workshop, where engineers like Griffith Outlaw (here) helped put it together. Sentry “flies” through the water to depths of 6,000 meters, carrying a variety of  sensors. It has mapped the underwater hydrocarbon plume from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the history of Earth’s magnetic field reversals held in rocks on the seafloor. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)