In an effort to help scientists understand the true extent of melting from Arctic glaciers, an ecoSUB underwater robotic vehicle will perform an Arctic research mission that is considered too dangerous for humans.

The ecoSUB will be deployed to the foot of a melting glacier in Arctic Norway. The goal of the mission is to learn more about the effect of meltwater on a process called ‘calving’, which causes huge chunks of ice to break off the glacier edge.

As part of the mission, the ecoSUB will enter one of the most hostile environments on earth to take measurements such as temperature and salinity as far down as 100 meters below Kronebreen glacier on Svalbard, providing researchers with a better picture of the effect that warming ocean properties have on the calving process.

The readings obtained by the ecoSUB will help researchers get a better understanding of the process of sub-glacial discharge, which is a term given to “melt water that flows down through the glacier and out into the ocean,” according to ecoSUB Robotics.

EcoSUB Robotics explains that “this water is fresher than the surrounding sea water, so starts to rise in the water column, creating a plume that pulls in warmer Atlantic water. As it rises, it circulates and creates a sandpaper effect against the face of the glacier. This process undermines the wall of ice, causing huge chunks to collapse into the sea.”

With this in mind, the team from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), which owns and operates the ecoSUB, will deploy a larger AUV further from the glacier to take more detailed measurements. A UAS will also be used to take aerial images of the glacier to help build a 3D map, while simultaneously capturing a bird’s-eye view of calving events.

“Given the importance of Arctic glacial ice melt in terms of climate change and sea level rise, the interaction between melt water and sea water beneath glaciers is hugely understudied. We have satellite images and models that help to predict the extent of ice loss but it is extremely important to ‘ground-truth’ these predictions by investigating conditions in the field,” explains oceanographer Prof Mark Inall, the leader of the SAMS team.

“It would simply be too dangerous to go into such a hostile and remote environment with a boat. Not only is there a risk of falling ice, but large-scale calving causes huge waves, so it is a dangerous environment. That is where the ecoSUB will come into its own, working at the front line of Arctic science.”