The Goa-headquartered National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has launched a coral monitoring autonomous underwater vehicle, Coral Reef Monitoring and Surveillance Robot, or C-bot, for long-term monitoring of coral reefs.
NIO To Monitor Coral Reefs Under Ocean
Dr N Kalaiselvi, director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said the C-bot, which can reach depths of 200 meters, was their first step to building a capable underwater vehicle that can scan the depth of the Indian Ocean.
Will Be Used To Prevent Coral Bleaching
“Because of climate change, coral bleaching is taking place. With different sensors and cameras, it measures the parameters and might help explain why the corals are dying the way they are,” NIO director Sunil Kumar Singh said.
Major Uses Of E-Vehicle
- To develop it further, we will be able to do deep diving. So from 200 meters, we will aim for thousands of meters in the sea.
- The vehicle will also help the Navy perform bathymetry studies to help plot navigation channels and scope out hydrothermal vents, where geothermally heated water seeps up from deep below the ocean floor.
- It will also help in finding the active hydrothermal vents emitting many elements into the ocean and active biology which is going on in many places like in many extreme environments where the temperature is 400-500 °C.
Dr N Kalaiselvi, the director general of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) , who was on a visit to Goa, launched C-Bot on Sunday. We will take photographs and samples in real-time,” he added.