 Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle Goes Missing While Exploring Famous Doomsday Glacier

The University of Gothenburg has reported that it has reportedly lost an unmanned underwater vehicle (abbreviated AUV) underneath a glacier in West Antarctica.

The university owns the AUV and was one of a few units worldwide with unique capabilities required to operate under the unstable Thwaites Glacier, commonly called the Doomsday Glacier.

The AUV disappeared last weekend during an expedition with South Korea’s icebreaker Araon.

This AUV was also part of a project led by Prof. Anna Wåhlin, one of the six core participants associated with the University of Gothenburg on the icebreaker.

The AUV did not appear at the programmed rendezvous point, and after carrying out a thorough search, Ran was announced as lost.

The AUV - based on Kongsberg’s HUGIN platform — was financed with about $3 million from the Knut and the Alice Wallenberg Foundation back in 2015.

With scientists increasingly mapping the effects of climate change in Polar Regions, melting glaciers and ice sheets have become a concern.

Most studies are trying to emphasize the nexus between ice loss and rising sea levels, which might be detrimental to the ecosystems far from the Polar Regions.