👩🔬 Who is Taavi Liblik ?
Dr. Taavi Liblik is an oceanographer at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. His work focuses on physical oceanography, coastal processes, and high-resolution observation of the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Liblik’s research examines fine-scale physical and biogeochemical processes in the Baltic Sea, particularly in shallow and dynamic coastal zones where conventional platforms struggle.
With the YUCO micro-AUV, his team measures temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a fluorescence, turbidity, oxygen and vertical water-column structure, enabling detailed mapping of estuarine fronts, submesoscale features, and benthic boundary-layer processes.
🌊 His mission
Coastal waters of the Baltic Sea are regularly monitored by the team using a combination of ship-based and other autonomous platforms. With the introduction of YUCO, these observations have been extended into very shallow and complex coastal environments that were previously inaccessible to autonomous platforms.
🤖 Since adopting the YUCO-PHYSICO AUV
In 2025, the team conducted 11 YUCO missions in three contrasting Baltic Sea environments:
– Matsalu Bay (1–3 m depth, dynamic estuarine frontal area)
– Suur Strait ( ~3–22 m depth, dynamic zone between the Moonsund Archipelago and the Gulf of Riga)
– Baltic Proper coastal slope (>100 – 3 m depth, strongly stratified)
💡 The results speak for themselves:
The missions were executed during April, July, and October to capture processes such as heatwaves, stratification development, and autumn cooling. This approach allowed the team to observe short-term variability, frontal dynamics, upwelling, submesoscale features, and near-bottom processes in the coastal environment at a resolution unattainable by other observing platforms.
“Our tests showed that the YUCO-PHYSICO micro-AUV can reliably operate from very shallow estuaries to deep, stratified offshore waters of the Baltic Sea while delivering high-quality physical and biogeochemical data. I do see that the micro-AUV clearly emerges as a highly promising tool for coastal ocean research.”
— Dr. Liblik, Taltech, Tallinn University of Technology
🔎 This story is part of our SEABER Case Study Series, featuring real users who advance science and operations through micro-AUV technology.
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👉 Link : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/seaber-the-micro-auv-company_seaber-yuco-auv-activity-7416824967863934977-qPdB?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADgbq5IBdJEba6NSrWg-B7x4okZyTK9q-DQ