Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for surveying deep ocean

There are concerns about the impact that global warming will have on our environment, and which will inevitably result in expanding deserts and rising water levels. AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicle) were considered and chosen, as the most suitable tool for conduction survey concerning these global environmental problems. JAMSTEC has started to build a long range cruising AUV. The plan for its development is in several steps. As the first step an AUV, named URASHIMA was built in 1999, and sea trials have been held since 2000. URASHIMA dived to 3,518 m depth in 2001. At the end of February 2005, the vehicle was able to cruise autonomously and continuously for 317 km. This paper describes outline of the vehicle, presents some experimental results.