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A hydrothermal investigation system for the Qianlong-II autonomous underwater vehicle

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Abstract

Qianlong-II is a fully autonomous underwater vehicle designed for the investigation of submarine resources, particularly polymetallic sulfides. It was used to successfully explore hydrothermal fields on the Southwest Indian Ridge. Here, we summarized the exploration of hydrothermal systems using Qianlong-II, including detailed descriptions of its implementation along with the systems used for data management and fast map**. We also introduced a method to remove platform magnetic interference using magnetic data while Qianlong-II is spinning. Based on hydrothermal anomalies collected by Qianlong-II, we developed a rapid method for locating hydrothermal vents. Taking one dive as an example, we systemically demonstrated the process for analyzing hydrothermal survey data to locate hydrothermal vents.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the experimental team members of the 4 500 m Qianlong-II AUV technology application system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Tao Wu, Chunhui Tao, **hui Zhang, Guoyin Zhang, Jian** Zhou & **anming Deng

  2. School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Chunhui Tao

  3. Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Ao Wang

Authors
  1. Tao Wu
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  2. Chunhui Tao
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  3. **hui Zhang
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  4. Ao Wang
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  5. Guoyin Zhang
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  6. Jian** Zhou
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  7. **anming Deng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tao Wu.

Additional information

Foundation item: The Technology Upgrading and Scientific Applications of the 4 500 m Depth Rated Qianlong II AUV under contract No. 2017YFC0306803; the National Key R&D Program of China under contract No. 2018YFC0309901; the COMRA Major Project under contract Nos DY135-S1-01-06 and DY135-S1-01-01.

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Wu, T., Tao, C., Zhang, J. et al. A hydrothermal investigation system for the Qianlong-II autonomous underwater vehicle. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 38, 159–165 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-019-1408-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-019-1408-4

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