Predicting underwater visibility in the Swan River

Predicting Visibility in the Swan River

Supervisors

• Matt Rayson
  Research Fellow, Oceans Graduate School

• William Edge
  PhD Student, Oceans Graduate School

Students

• Alec Sorgiovanni
• Liangyu Gong

Project Description

Underwater visibility in marine environments limits the capacity of divers and remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) to perform their desired functions, e.g., inspection of subsea infrastructure such as pipelines. Predicting the timing of low-visibility periods will enable project managers to plan ROV dives for suitable conditions and avoid costly down time. However, predicting visibility is an ongoing challenge due to the complex relationship with light propagation and other environmental conditions (e.g., turbidity, suspended material concentration and type). In this project, we will develop a novel underwater camera system to collect visibility data along with other water quality variables and build suitable mathematical models for prediction. This is an exciting, novel experiment where we will use the Swan River as a natural laboratory. Results will be directly applicable to offshore operators (e.g., Shell and Woodside) and their service providers. As the project is multi-disciplinary in nature (computing, instrumentation, design, modelling), we are seeking motivated students from all engineering majors.