PhD: Studying Antarctic krill with autonomous platforms to reduce research emissions
Location: Cambridge, UK
The British Antarctic Survey is currently advertising a PhD project investigating the use of autonomous platforms to study Antarctic krill. This project is part of the new Net Zero for Polar Science doctoral training partnership.
Project Summary
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a critical zooplankton species within the Southern Ocean ecosystem, playing key roles in Antarctic food webs and biogeochemical cycling. Krill are traditionally studied using acoustic and net surveys from research ships, but these surveys are resource-intensive and offer only snapshots in time. Low-carbon uncrewed surface vehicles present exciting new opportunities to study the polar marine ecosystem at unrivalled temporal and spatial scales.
The British Antarctic Survey has begun trialling Sailbuoys, wind and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles equipped with echosounders, around South Georgia. This is a hotspot for Antarctic krill, home to globally important populations of krill-dependent higher predators, and one of the three loci of the krill fishery. The krill population at South Georgia is highly dynamic, with strong intra- and interannual variability in its biomass and distribution, and under increasing pressure from rebounding predator populations, fishing, and climate change.
Sailbuoys are novel platforms, with slower and more complex cruise tracks than research ships. However, they can be deployed for extended periods. The high spatial and temporal resolution of data from autonomous platforms such as Sailbuoys promises to provide new insights into the ecology of krill, e.g. its distribution, behaviour, and environmental drivers for these, and the operation of the wider krill-centred marine ecosystem. This information will, in turn, inform the sustainable management of the krill fishery.
Acoustic and environmental data at South Georgia have been collected from a Sailbuoy in two field seasons, with further Sailbuoy deployments planned. The candidate will develop acoustic data processing templates in Echoview software to extract data on krill distribution and relative abundance. Depending on the student's interests, the data could then be studied in relation to oceanographic properties measured by the Sailbuoy and other existing datasets including satellite-derived products, using tools such as R/Python and GIS. As an experimental platform there is considerable scope to investigate the optimal survey design that integrates data collection from uncrewed surface and moored platforms to monitor marine ecosystems. The net zero case study will identify the carbon, financial and time costs associated with data collected by autonomous marine sampling platforms such as the Sailbuoy in comparison with the equivalent data being collected by traditional research vessels.
Research Objectives
- Develop processing methods for acoustic and ancillary data collected using an uncrewed surface vehicle, Sailbuoy, to provide information on zooplankton distribution, biomass and behaviour
- Quantify fine to mesoscale variability in Antarctic krill distribution and behaviour at South Georgia and investigate potential drivers, using Sailbuoy data together with existing data from complementary platforms
- Building on Objectives 1 and 2, optimise Antarctic marine ecosystem surveying strategies for autonomous vehicles using knowledge of krill distribution and behaviour in relation to environmental conditions, including ocean currents
- Net Zero Case Study: Identify the capabilities and limitations of using uncrewed surface vehicle deployments for ecosystem studies, and assess the associated carbon and other costs of autonomous sampling strategies in relation to traditional survey methods
More information
Applications close 7 January 2026. For more information, including how to apply, please visit the website here.
