RV 'Falkor (too)' gains enhanced seafloor mapping capabilities

Besides mapping two million square kilometres of seafloor, Schmidt Ocean Institute has made two significant changes to advance the capabilities of RV Falkor (too). The shape of the ship’s bow has been radically changed, and the gold standard of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has been added to its technology suite.

"There has always been a commitment from our organization to continuously improve what we can provide to the scientific community,” said Eric King, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s senior director of maritime infrastructure. “We moved quickly to make these latest changes in response to lessons learned in our first two years of expeditions aboard R/V Falkor (too), and we have never been better positioned to provide the best-quality data to scientists around the world.”

V-shaped bow

Over a two-month dry dock period in Talcahuano, Chile, the team reconstructed the bow of RV Falkor (too), transforming it from a bulbous bow more common on offshore commercial vessels into a streamlined, V-shaped bow optimized for science missions. The new bow significantly improves the precision and reliability of the ship’s sonar systems in capturing high-quality mapping data, even in challenging weather conditions. It can now capture high-resolution data at 6-11 knots (~7-13mph) and in swells exceeding 3m.

RV Falkor (too)’s new bow helps to eliminate bubbles from interfering with the ship’s sonars and sensors, which proved challenging with the previous bulbous bow – an aspect of the original MV Polar Queen vessel design that assisted in faster transits across the ocean. Seafloor maps are created using multibeam sonar technology, which sends sound from the vessel to the seafloor. Scientists, especially hydrographers, use the time it takes for the sound to travel between the ship and the seafloor to calculate the depth, creating a bathymetric map and revealing seafloor features like underwater mountains and canyons.

“Reconstructing the bow was a massive undertaking and a clear demonstration of Schmidt Ocean Institute’s commitment to advancing oceanography. The shipyard period required dedication and hard work from teams across the entire organization, including our fantastic crew,” said Captain Peter Reynolds of RV Falkor (too). “The result is the ability to collect higher-quality sonar data at greater speeds. Combined with our new AUV, this significantly enhances our scientific capability during our expeditions.”

Rapidly identifying areas of interest

The state-of-the-art Kongsberg Hugin Superior AUV, called The Childlike Empress, can operate to depths of up to 6,000m and stay in the water for up to 72 hours – offering access to 98% of the ocean floor, with the exception of the deepest trenches. The organization’s ROV SuBastian can operate in waters up to 4,500m. The AUV, the most adaptable and advanced commercially available vehicle, will be mission-ready by mid-2026 after additional training and field tests.

“The Childlike Empress is a game-changer for scientific mission planning,” said Jason Williams, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s engineering senior manager. “Where once it could take weeks to locate intriguing seafloor features like hydrothermal vents, we can now identify areas of interest within a day, accelerating our knowledge of the global ocean.”

Synthetic aperture sonar

The AUV has many sonars and sensors, including a traditional multibeam system, subbottom profiler, a magnetometer; oxygen, methane, and dissolved carbon dioxide sensors; a conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) sensor; imaging system; and synthetic aperture sonar (SAS). Where multibeam systems collect data at resolutions of 1-50m (depending on the depth and type of sonar), SAS can collect data every 25cm (2ft), achieving much higher resolution, producing some of the clearest seafloor images. These maps help pinpoint the exact locations of hydrothermal vents, shipwrecks and other interesting seafloor features.

The AUV can house additional sensors and imaging equipment and is adaptable to the scientists’ needs, Williams said.

“Schmidt Ocean Institute is committed to several global initiatives, and is a partner of the Nippon Foundation – GEBCO Seabed 2030,” said Dr Jyotika Virmani, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s executive director. “We have contributed  2 million square kilometres to the global seafloor map, and with The Childlike Empress AUV and our new bow, we are better equipped to contribute to the global effort to map the seafloor and speed up the pace of ocean discovery."