SUBMERSIBLE REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLES (ROVS) FOR INVESTIGATIONS OF THE GLACIER OCEAN-SEDIMENT INTERFACE

Submersible remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are valuable research to ols for data collection in dangerous or inaccessible environments asso ciated with glaciers terminating in the sea. At tide-water ice cliffs, iceberg calving makes close approaches for extended time periods by m anned vessels dangerous. ROT's can be operated from relatively safe di stances (hundreds of metres); they can also descend to considerably gr eater depths (hundreds rather than tens of metres) than scuba diving p ermits. They can provide data on glacier grounding-line and sea-floor morphology and water-column characteristics (e.g. salinity, turbidity, current velocity). They are also used for diving under floating glaci er tongues and ice shelves where no other access is possible. They can be fitted with a variety of oceanographic sensors, imaging sensors, t racking devices and water and sediment samplers, making them versatile research instruments that can supply qualitative and quantitative dat a for process studies in logistically difficult environments.