A FLEET of robots have taken to the ocean in a ground-breaking mission that will revolutionise the way we monitor the seas.

It is the most ambitious project of its kind in Europe and aims to gather vast amounts of valuable scientific data that has never been possible to collect before.

The robotic vehicles are aiming to travel up to 300 miles over the next 20 days, collecting information about ocean processes and marine life that can prove vital to better understand what goes on beneath the surface.

Never before have so many different vehicles been launched together at the same time. If successful they could transform how we explore the ocean in the future.

The mission has been co-ordinated by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, based in Southampton. All the robots are unmanned, only communicating with the land via satellite and using either wind, wave or solar energy.

Dr Russell Wynn, scientific co-ordinator, said: “Nothing on this scale has been attempted before. The range of vehicles and instruments being deployed at the same time is unique, and they will generate vast amounts of valuable scientific data.

“One advantage of using robotic vehicles is that they are relatively small and quiet compared to research ships, so they are ideal for making observations of marine life. They will literally be our eyes and ears in the sea.

“This new technology is really transforming our ability to measure and monitor the oceans.”

The robotic vehicles will cross a series of physical boundaries called fronts. The targeted fronts off south-west UK provide ideal conditions for abundant plankton growth, which in turn can attract large numbers of fish, seabirds, dolphins and basking sharks.The deployed robots carry a range of instruments for observing these animals.

As well as measuring the temperature of the water and the weather conditions at the ocean surface, they can detect the density of plankton in the water; listen for clicks and whistles of dolphins and porpoises, and photograph seabirds using surface cameras.

This data will help scientists map the distribution of the fronts and their associated fauna.

Dr Maaten Furlong, who is responsible for managing many of the vehicles, admitted it was a challenging task, adding: “Understanding how to run this type of campaign is essential as our aim in the long term is to routinely deploy fleets of robots to tackle ocean research problems.”