Oceanographer to speak on mapping Delaware Bay Aug. 16

The final installment of the Ocean Currents lecture series will address mapping the Delaware Bay at 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 16, in Room 104 of the Cannon Laboratory on the University of Delaware Hugh R. Sharp Campus, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes.

Electronics and water generally don’t mix, but that’s not the case in the lab of Arthur Trembanis, a University of Delaware professor of oceanography in the School of Marine Science and Policy. In his research, Trembanis works with autonomous data collection vehicles that operate in the water or in the air to map out everything from the coastline to the ocean, from its surface to its depths.

In his lecture The Life Autonomous, Trembanis will discuss how this technology has been employed, including in a recent weeklong survey of the Delaware Bay shoreline. He will present and discuss the results from the survey, highlighting both the advances and remaining challenges for multiplatform mapping efforts brought to light during the survey.

The recent survey was part of the biennial Autonomous Systems Boot Camp. The camp, co-hosted by the universities of Delaware and New Hampshire, focuses on autonomous underwater vehicles. Experts, manufacturers, owners and operators all converged at a single location for the purpose of improving the AUV operation expertise of all participants. This year the camp directed its efforts toward mapping out a portion of the Delaware Bay shoreline over the course of six days.

This lecture series is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. This lecture is appropriate for all age groups.