Cyprus Subsea’s New Seaglider Fleet Ready for Action

Cyprus Subsea Consulting Services Limited has established a fleet of four Seaglider AUVs to unlock new long-duration subsea survey and monitoring capabilities for research and commercial organizations.

Featuring four M1 Seagliders acquired in February 2022, the new privately-owned fleet is one of the largest of its kind in Europe and is ready for operation now.

With more than a decade of supporting clients on scientific, regulatory, and commercial Seaglider projects globally, Cyprus Subsea’s 1000-meter rated M1 Seagliders are a major boost in its capacity to provide real-time environmental monitoring services in the open seas for diverse applications.

The fleet enables customers to leverage glider capabilities for one-off or short-term projects without the need for investing in glider infrastructure or specialized staff. Larger organizations may also benefit from leveraging the new fleet as a lower cost alternative to maintaining internal glider capabilities all year round.

“For gliders to fulfil their full potential as a cost-effective, low carbon marine monitoring and research tool, the barriers to their usage must be reduced or removed. The learning curve and initial investment are too high for most, and we believe we can help by providing our expertise and assets as a turnkey solution anywhere in the world,” said Daniel Hayes, Managing Director, CSCS Ltd.

Equipped with a variety of sensors, Cyprus Subsea’s state-of-the-art gliders acquire ocean profile data such as temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, as well as biogeochemical, biological, and acoustic data. Pilots on shore manage the on-board autopilot system and sensor payload configuration via satellite.

An underwater glider is a highly efficient autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) which utilizes slight changes in buoyancy, pitch and roll to achieve forward, profiling, motion over long distances. They are a reusable, cost-effective method for collecting repeat subsurface ocean observations. Mission endurance is measured in months, with the gliders surfacing to transmit data to shore.

Cyprus Subsea is taking a flexible approach to provision of its new Seagliders, with related services including mission planning, launch/recovery, piloting, maintenance, training, in addition to data management, analysis and reporting all available according to project requirements.

The company’s DeepEcho Module for identifying and quantifying components of the marine ecosystem on a range of scales, the gListen Board and the UVP6-LP Underwater Vision Profiler will also be available as part of Seaglider rental packages.