The British will send yellow submarine to study the warming in the Antarctic
British research Council for environment protection on 17 March of the current year will be sent to the Antarctic expedition the new Autonomous underwater vehicle Boaty McBoatface.
According to The Guardian, a new underwater robot that resembles a yellow submarine, will study the impact of global warming on the oceans. During navigation, the robot will periodically rise to the surface and send the collected data to researchers.
The climate change leads to a gradual melting of ice at the poles of the planet. This process gradually leads to an increase in global sea level, the emergence of a large number of icebergs. Potentially, the warming can change ocean currents. Due to the melting of ice and formation of thinner seasonal ice cover has increased the period of navigation. Economic exploitation of the Arctic and Antarctic may damage the ecological environment in these areas and further worsen the climate of the planet.
As expected, the British underwater robot, named by popular vote, will be delivered to Antarctica on the research vessel “James Clark Ross” in the framework of the expedition DynOPO. This expedition will study the changes of currents and temperatures in the Strait of Orkney, located in the Weddell sea near the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The depth of the Strait is about 3.5 thousand meters. Boaty McBoatface will be working in the Strait on the full range of depths.
As expected, the Antarctic expedition will leave from Punta arenas in Chile. What data the British unit will collect in the Strait of Orkney, is not specified. According to the statement of the research Council, Boaty McBoatface will collect temperature readings at different depths. Mix warm water closer to the bottom in the Strait of Orkney, dominated by icy currents, can indicate a serious impact of global warming on the oceans.
Technical details about British underwater robot is not disclosed. It is only known that the device is capable of long time to be under the ice, probably using the orientation system of inertial navigation and to dive to a depth of six thousand meters. As expected, in 2019 the robot will receive the acoustic sensors and chemical analyzers. With their help it will track the release of bottom of gas bubbles in the North sea, which might be related to global warming.
In early March of this year, the American company Navmar Applied Sciences together with the Department of energy has begun flight tests of a new unmanned aerial vehicle ArcticShark. The machine is developed specially for the study of climate change in the Arctic. It is equipped with 12 different instruments and sensors that allow to measure many parameters, including the strength and direction of wind, temperature, humidity, and background radiation. All these devices are optimized for reliable operation under conditions of very low temperatures.
Maximum takeoff weight is ArcticShark 283,5 kg wing span of 6.7 meters. The drone can rise to a height of 4.6 thousand meters and speeds up to 121 kilometers per hour. As expected, all tests and certification procedures ArcticShark will be completed by the end of this year. In 2018, the drone was in the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, who will use the machine for climate research.
Vasily Sychev