UVic team helping to solve arctic mystery

Will this be the year that the great Canadian mystery of the lost ships of Sir John Franklin is solved? UVic researchers are in the Arctic with their autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to assist Parks Canada as it continues its search for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which disappeared during the British explorer’s 1845 mission to chart the Northwest Passage.

UVic’s Ocean Technology Lab’s AUV is equipped with a bathymetric side-scan sonar system to gather three-dimensional data about the ocean floor that can be used to identify items of archeological interest and also for charting by the Canadian Hydrographic Service.

“This collaboration with Parks Canada offers incredible learning opportunities for graduate students in our lab and also showcases the type of work we’re able to do,” says Dr. Colin Bradley, a mechanical engineer and director of the Ocean Technology Lab. http://bit.ly/arcticsearch