Washington, Aug 20 : An international expedition currently underway in the Black Sea will reveal the mysteries of the inland water body's geology and maritime history, including ages old shipwrecks.

Scientists from the University of Delaware in the US will operate a novel underwater robot, the DOERRI, (Delaware Oceanographic and Environmental Research Remote Instrument) from onboard the Ukrainian research vessel 'Flamingo,' as part of the project.

The expedition, which will include a multidisciplinary team of scientists from several nations, will conduct geological and archaeological research in the Aegean and Black Seas, waterways that have served as major trade routes for centuries.

Robert Ballard, known worldwide for locating the sunken ocean liner 'Titanic' and WWII German battleship 'Bismarck', will be the principal investigator on the research cruise.

He said the expedition would shed light on "important geological features in the Mediterranean, while also uncovering vital information about ancient trade routes and the maritime history of the Black Sea".

Ballard, also a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, and president of the Institute for Exploration, had last year in partnership with the Department of Underwater Heritage in Ukraine, located numerous shipwrecks in the Black Sea, including a vessel from the Byzantine period that will be revisited and explored during this expedition.

rt Trembanis, UD assistant professor of marine and Earth studies, who designed the 83-inch-long, 240-pound DOERRI, said, the AUV will map the seafloor of the Black Sea off Sevastopol, Ukraine, on missions up to 14 hours long and to depths of approximately 200 meters (656 feet).

The DOERRI carries a sophisticated sensor system including devices to measure salinity, temperature and oxygen levels and two types of advanced sonar systems for mapping the seafloor. Multiple computers and safety features work in tandem to keep the systems operating, and to safely return the vehicle back to the ship at the end of each day, he said.

"In many ways, DOERRI may serve as our "agent into the unknown" much like the AUV's namesake, the cartoon fish "Dory," did in the Disney film Finding Nemo. Just like her eponymous namesake, we hope that DOERRI will be a finder of lost things," said Prof. Trembanis.

"We hope DOERRI will provide unrivalled data that will allow us to discover very ancient shipwrecks, previously unknown, on the Black Sea floor. Along the way, DOERRI will also give us new insights into the dynamics of dissolved oxygen and internal waves that help to shape and mould the seafloor," he said.

Shipwrecks in the Black Sea often are remarkably well-preserved due to the waterway's chemistry. Nearly 90 percent of the Black Sea is a no-oxygen "dead zone," where only a few bacteria live.

"At depths beyond 150 meters, the Black Sea is not unlike a giant natural bell jar from which life-supporting oxygen has been entirely removed," said Prof. Trembanis.

Prof. Trembanis said a major advantage of AUVs like DOERRI is that they allow researchers to literally become more immersed in the marine environment.

"By severing the cord to the surface, we become more a part of the environment we are studying because we can approach things just as a curious fish might do. In real terms, the AUV provides capabilities to get below the influence of surface conditions and get closer to the features on the seafloor we wish to study without actually touching or disturbing anything around us," he said.

"Furthermore, we can ask the robot to do critical but perhaps monotonous tasks over and over again--tasks that give us great scientific data, but tasks that would seem boring to human operators," he added.

He admitted that while this will be DOERRI's farthest trip from home so far, it would not likely not be its last.

The leading-edge robot already is scheduled for another international mission, to explore the coral reefs off Bonaire, early next year, he said.

He further said live video from the expedition will also be made available on the web site of Immersion Presents, the expedition's education partner [www.immersionpresents.org], on the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography web site at (http://iao.gso.uri.edu) and on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Explorer web site at (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov).