MBARI has new technology to gather information on harmful toxins in Monterey Bay

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is making big leaps in the field of oceanography with a new technology that will transform the science for the better. It’s the equivalent of taking a science lab and putting it under water out in the ocean.

Only about 7 feet long and looking like a miniature yellow submarine. The new technology in these Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, or AUV’s, make them moving laboratories. Which allows researchers to gather information from the deep sea.

“Basically a laboratory in a can, that allows you to take a sample of water, filter out the particles, break those down and analyze the DNA and other substances, to identify at the microscopic level ‘whose there and what are they doing’,” said John Ryan, a Biological Oceanographer with MBARI.

The new technology aboard the AUV’s turns a process that takes days, into a process that takes minutes. As the information gathered gets sent back to researchers and scientists in almost real time.

“Rather than having to get out on the ship, collect water and bring it back to the lab, that’s all very time consuming. So this one can stay out for a long time and hang out where you might have an interesting phenomena going on and send back the results,” said Brian Kieft, a Software Engineer working on the AUV’s.

The underwater vehicles can stay out to sea for up to two weeks. The longer they’re out to sea, the more information they can relay back to researchers and scientists at MBARI. They also can detect harmful toxins in the Monterey Bay. Including domoic acid, the toxin that has wrecked the Dungeness crab fishing season. According to researchers, this new technology can serve as an early warning system.

“Allows us to forecast, and predict, and give information like what’s a healthy fishery we can eat from, and what’s happening to the organisms out there, is it natural or human caused,” said Andrew DeVogelaere, Research Coordinator with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Only one AUV at this time has this new technology, but MBARI hopes to have all AUV’s updated soon.