Underwater Robot SeaBED Journeys Beneath Antarctic Ice to Measure Its Thickness (VIDEO)

A robot is giving scientists a new look on Antarctic sea ice. The underwater robot, called SeaBED, has now helped create the first detailed, high-resolution 3D maps of Antarctic sea ice, revealing accurate ice thickness from areas that were previously too difficult to access.

In the past, scientists have used a range of technologies and methods to measure sea ice thickness. Understanding the thickness of sea ice and how it's changing is important for monitoring the impacts of climate change. Measurements can be made by drilling holes in the ice along with visual observations. But there are difficulties when it comes to accessing thicker areas of sea ice.

Now, that's changed. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) known as SeaBED is giving researchers a closer look. SeaBED was fitted with an upward-looking sonar in order to map and measure the underside of sea ice floes. Journeying deep beneath the sea ice, SeaBED managed to help create high-resolution 3D bathymetric surveys of the underside of the ice.

"The full 3D topography of the underside of the ice provides a richness of new information about the structure of sea ice and the processes that created it," said Guy Williams, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This is key to advancing our models particularly in showing the differences between Arctic and Antarctic sea ice."

In fact, the new robot allows the researchers to measure ice up to 17 meters thick, which was far thicker than expected. Currently, the scientists plan to do large-scale surveys that can then be compared to large-scale observations from aircraft and satellites. The findings should help inform the researchers when it comes to judging how sea ice is changing over time. More specifically, they can monitor how climate change or other weather conditions can influence sea ice over time.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.