The use of mathematical models and autonomous underwater vehicles to monitor effluent discharges

Abstract

Near field model predictions can be used to reduce the uncertainty about the location of an outfall sewage plume during a monitoring mission. In this paper we present an innovative methodology that uses these models to predict the plume location, establishing a sensing strategy applicable to a monitoring mission using an AUV. The paper describes two applications of this methodology, accomplishing the automatic mission definition using real-time oceanographic data. An AUV monitoring mission was conducted to detect and map the Aveiro outfall plume, making use of these applications to specify an efficient sampling strategy.