Elevators-autonomous transporters for deepsea benthic sample recovery

Abstract

Sample recovery devices have been fabricated for use with the Jason deep diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV). They are custom-built, autonomous vertical transporters (AVTs) that are capable of raising numerous benthic samples and other payloads to the ocean's surface independent of the sampling ROV. AVTs are more commonly referred to as sample "elevators". Elevators are inexpensive to construct and can be deployed and recovered many times during the course of a single ROV dive in order to reduce wear and tear on the more expensive ROV. This paper describes the design, fabrication, operation and navigational tracking of these 6,000 meter rated, nondestructive benthic sample transportation vehicles.