Exploration of Mono Lake with an ROV: a prototype experiment for the MAPS AUV program

Describes a field experiment to explore Mono Lake using the Telepresence Controlled Remotely Operated Vehicle (TROV). It was a prototype study demonstrating the science capabilities defined for an AUV developed by a consortium called MAPS. The goal was to study mineralization processes associated with thermal and nonthermal spring inflow into Mono Lake, a hypersaline, alkaline lake in eastern California located in a volcanically active area. TROV is a tethered ROV which can be controlled using a virtual reality user interface. It has a matched pair of stereo video cameras on a rapid pan and tilt platform and a single fixed downward pointing camera. It has high resolution 750 kHz pencil beam SONAR and 1 MHz scanning SONAR for navigating in the murky water, instruments for measuring water column properties (C,T,D, pH), a syringe water sampler, and a three function manipulator arm used to collect mineral samples and place them in a sample box mounted on the vehicle. TROV was navigated using a DiveTracker acoustic navigation system. TROV was deployed from the deck of a houseboat anchored above the field sites with control and data recording equipment also onboard. The boat's location was continuously recorded using a differential GPS system. During 10 days of field operations, TROV had a total of 38 hours of bottom time.