USGS Atonomous Underwater Vehicle

Adam Starke (left of AUV) of The Nature Conservancy and Lee Bodkin (right of AUV) retrieve the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle from it's mission mapping the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Point under-bay section of outfall pipe.

An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was deployed in the Great South Bay, Long Island, NY to capture snapshots of water-quality conditions over broad areas. Because geologic, biologic, hydraulic, and chemical data are collected simultaneously; the datasets allow for a systems-based approach to analysis. Here, Adam Starke (left of AUV) of The Nature Conservancy and Lee Bodkin (right of AUV; USGS) retrieve the AUV from it's mission mapping water-quality conditions across the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant under-bay section of outfall pipe. The goal is to see if changes in surrounding water-quality suggest potential leaks in the aging infrastructure. Tom Pistillo (at laptop; USGS) prepares to retrieve data from the mission.