TalTech Scientists Test Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Baltic Sea Research
Researchers from Tallinn University of Technology have successfully tested a micro autonomous underwater vehicle in the Baltic Sea, capable of reaching areas inaccessible to conventional instruments.
Scientists from TalTech recently conducted the first tests of a micro autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the Baltic Sea, aiming to fill observational gaps in coastal waters and straits. The French-made YUCO-PHYSICO robot weighs only 10 kilograms and is just over a meter long. It measures water temperature, salinity, oxygen content, turbidity, and chlorophyll—an indicator of plankton abundance.
Over the past year, the team carried out 11 successful test missions at three locations: Matsalu Bay on the west coast, the Suur Strait between Saaremaa/Muhu and the mainland, and in the open Baltic Sea. According to senior researcher Taavi Liblik, the device has excellent maneuverability. In Matsalu Bay, it was programmed to conduct measurements between fishing nets.
“We program the route in advance, go to the starting point, and put it in the water. Then we give it a start command, and it starts its mission,” Liblik said. During tests, researchers followed closely to maintain radio contact, but in the future the AUV will likely be deployed in the morning and retrieved in the evening.
The test missions revealed several interesting findings. For the first time, scientists observed in detail how water from the open Baltic Sea moves through the Väinameri archipelago and penetrates the Gulf of Riga at a set depth. Off Osmussaar Island in the Gulf of Finland, an unusual upwelling event was discovered, caused by seabed topography creating alternating cold and warm zones.
The robot has broad potential applications. It can be equipped with a sensor to detect cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) or sent into an oil slick to track its movement. Currently, the AUV is already being used in a new project in the Irbe Strait, where researchers study water mass movement and oxygen deficiency duration.
Liblik believes such devices will become indispensable for marine observation. They are quiet, making them suitable for nature reserves, and can monitor development projects like offshore wind farms. The project involves international collaboration with scientists from Bulgaria and Turkey (working in the Black Sea) and Japan (Sea of Japan). Results have been published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
