Photo of the Week: Long-Range AUV: Stella

Researchers from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center deploy a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle, nicknamed Stella, from a research vessel. Stella can continuously photograph the ocean bottom along a pre-programmed track. Her mission here was to capture data on sea scallops for comparison to other survey methods currently used. The goal is to have these vehicles be able to complement our surveys and sample within wind energy areas, where larger research vessels may not be able to safely sample.

Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Zach Fyke