IMOS - AUV SIRIUS CAMPAIGN: TASMANIA, OCTOBER 2008

AUV Sirius (IMOS Platform code: SIRIUS) spent two weeks in Tasmania in October 2008 surveying sites as part of the Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility (CERF) Marine Biodiversity Research Hub. \n\nThe AUV deployments focused on sites along the Tasman Peninsula in South East Tasmania and in the Huon Marine Protected Area (MPA). The objective of the cruise was to describe biological assemblages associated with rocky reef systems in deep shelf waters beyond normal diving depths. Detailed multibeam mapping of the survey areas had been undertaken prior to the AUV deployment to determine suitable survey locations and to identify any hazards to operation. \n\nAt each location, multiple reefs were selected for detailed survey work at a range of depths from approximately 50 m to 150 m. Dive profiles were designed to include sufficient replication to quantitatively determine abundances of key species/features within depth strata, within reefs, between reefs (km to 100 km scale), and between differing levels of reef complexity. \n\nOver the course of the 10 days of operation, the vehicle undertook 19 dives and visited all the sites of interest identified prior to the voyage. At the conclusion of the trip the dataset included over 1TB of geotiff imagery, multibeam, AUV tracks, 3D textured meshes and hydrographical data.\n\nThe sites visited in October 2008 were:\n- Waterfall Bay\n- O'Hara Reef\n- Patch-Reef-North\n- Hippo North\n- Chevron Rock\n- Little Hippo North\n- Little Hippo South East\n- Hippo South\n- Chevron Rock South\n- Blowhole\n- Sisters\n- Port Arthur Channel\n- Port Arthur Patch-Reef\n- High Yellow\n- Butt's Reef\n- Zuid Pool\n- Butt's Pockmarks天狼星号自主水下航行器（Autonomous Underwater Vehicle，AUV）（IMOS平台编号：SIRIUS）于2008年10月在塔斯马尼亚地区开展为期两周的测点勘测工作，本次作业作为英联邦环境研究设施（Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility, CERF）海洋生物多样性研究中心的项目组成部分。 本次自主水下航行器布放作业主要覆盖塔斯马尼亚东南部塔斯曼半岛沿线及休恩海洋保护区（Huon Marine Protected Area, MPA）内的勘测测点。本次科考航次的核心目标为：对超出常规潜水作业深度的陆架深水区岩礁系统关联生物群落进行系统性描述。在布放自主水下航行器前，科研团队已完成勘测区域的详细多波束测深测绘，以遴选合适的勘测点位并识别作业潜在风险。 在每个选定测点，团队将根据约50米至150米的深度梯度，选取多座岩礁开展详细勘测工作。航行剖面设计充分兼顾重复采样需求，可定量测算深度层内、岩礁内部、岩礁间（跨度从千米至100千米级别）以及不同岩礁复杂程度下的关键物种种群丰度与特征分布。 在为期10天的作业周期内，该航行器共完成19次下潜，覆盖了航次筹备阶段预先划定的全部目标测点。本次科考结束后，所获数据集包含超过1TB的GeoTIFF格式影像、多波束测深数据、自主水下航行器航行轨迹、三维纹理网格模型及水文数据。 2008年10月到访的测点如下： - 瀑布湾（Waterfall Bay） - 奥哈拉礁（O'Hara Reef） - 北片礁（Patch-Reef-North） - 北河马礁（Hippo North） - 雪佛龙岩（Chevron Rock） - 小北马礁（Little Hippo North） - 东南小海马礁（Little Hippo South East） - 南河马礁（Hippo South） - 南雪佛龙岩（Chevron Rock South） - 喷水洞（Blowhole） - 姐妹礁（Sisters） - 亚瑟港航道（Port Arthur Channel） - 亚瑟港片礁（Port Arthur Patch-Reef） - 高黄礁（High Yellow） - 巴茨礁（Butt's Reef） - 祖德池（Zuid Pool） - 巴茨麻坑（Butt's Pockmarks）