Fugro’s autonomous environmental landers hit the water off Saudi Arabia

Fugro has deployed two new autonomous environmental landers offshore Saudi Arabia to collect oceanographic data in deep and remote areas of the Red Sea.

The KAUST Red Sea program is being performed in collaboration with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with the aim of better understanding the local ecosystem and supporting the Saudi Vision 2030 social and economic framework for a sustainable future.

The year-long project represents Fugro’s first use of the new lander technology in the Middle East.

Built in partnership with Ocean Data Solutions (ODS), the deepwater landers are a cost-effective, reusable and reconfigurable platform and are ideal for obtaining large volumes of oceanographic data in waters that are historically understudied, Fugro said.

According to the Dutch company, the landers can host multiple sensors to monitor and measure a variety of environmental parameters for months at a time in water depths of 10 meters to 6,000 meters.

“We value this strategic collaboration with ODS and KAUST, as the autonomous technology moves Fugro closer to our goal of safe and efficient operations in support of clean energy projects, more sustainable infrastructure and climate resilience,” said Youssef Atmani, regional metocean manager for Fugro.

“We believe the efficiencies of our new deepwater lander systems will help unlock a new era of ocean data collection, strengthening our contributions to a safe and liveable world.”