Using near field model predictions to detect and map an outfall sewage plume with an AUV

Near field model predictions can be used to reduce the uncertainty about outfall sewage plume location during a monitoring mission. In this paper we present an innovative methodology that uses these models to predict the plume location, establishing a sensing strategy applicable to a monitoring mission using an AUV. The paper describes two applications that implement this methodology, accomplishing the automatic mission definition using real-time oceanographic data.