Marine robotics for unmanned safe observation of tidewater glacier fronts: the CNR experience

Svalbard Archipelago, in the Norwegian Arctic sea, with its fjords system particularly vulnerable, is considered by scientists a suitable site for investigating the phenomena related to climate changes. Physical processes occurring in the Svalbard fjords have an influence not only on the local environment but also at large scale, influencing the global environment. Nevertheless, even if the Arctic ocean is considered a key indicator of climate change, significant gaps in data collection still remain. For example, it is recognised that tidewater glaciers have great influence on the biogeochemical processes that occur in the marine environment but the real extent of this influence is still affected by lack of data from close proximity to glacier fronts, to which, for safety reasons, manned surface vessels cannot get too close. In this context, unmanned marine vehicles can provide effective solutions for collecting high quality data in hazardous environment, mitigating risks. This contribution describes the field activity performed by CNR-INM in 2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively, when three campaigns were carried out in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard Islands. Unmanned operations in hardly accessible areas, such as Polar Regions, require specific designs and ad-hoc studied solutions. Each campaign was conceived and implemented to achieve a specific purpose in terms of acquired data. This has led to the design and production of a robotic tool capable of performing an efficient and reliable multi-sensor data acquisition in the whole water/air column (underwater-sea surface-air) in the direct contact with tidewater glaciers front. An overview of the different types of data acquired will also be given.