Seafaring drone crashes into iceberg, still sails around Antarctica
13,670 nautical miles. 50-foot waves. One big collision.
Over the weekend a Saildrone -- a 23-foot long uncrewed marine robot -- withstood the tempestuous seas around Antarctica to complete the first-ever circumnavigation of the continent by a drone. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists collaborated with autonomous vehicle specialists, Saildrone, to test whether the seafaring robot could survive the rough waters, and make successful scientific observations.
NOAA needs to gauge how much carbon dioxide -- the potent greenhouse gas now amassing in the atmosphere -- the southern seas are absorbing from the air, and it hopes Saildrones can help. Overall, the oceans soak up a huge amount of the CO2 that humanity emits into the atmosphere (some 30 percent), which has substantially curbed Earth's accelerating temperature rise. Now, understanding how much carbon the oceans will likely soak up in the future is critical to grasping how Earth's increasingly disrupted climate will transform society and the natural world.
"The ocean is doing a huge service for the globe," said Adrienne Sutton, a NOAA oceanographer working on the Saildrone missions. She noted that the carbon-absorbing oceans have kept the planet nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 Celsius) cooler than if these global waters did not soak up greenhouse gases.
The Saildrone's trip around Antarctica.Credit: saildroneBut as the seas warm and change, they might become less adept at absorbing the planet's mounting atmospheric carbon (for one, warmer oceans absorb less CO2). "That's a big problem," noted Sutton.
So oceanographers want to vastly expand their observations of the Southern Ocean, a notoriously harsh, remote, and little-observed region that scientists don't fully grasp. Some recent evidence suggests this ocean is hugely variable; in recent years it has absorbed significantly less carbon than during years prior. Will the Southern Ocean be a reliable carbon-absorber, known as a "carbon sink," in the years ahead? "That's an open question," said Sutton.
Understanding this vast, perplexing ocean requires more observations.
"We need to project its fate in the future," said Matthew Long, an oceanographer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who had no role in the mission.
Enter the Saildrone. As the drone travels the high seas it takes direct measurements of carbon dioxide. A fleet of sailing drones would dramatically improve oceanographers' grasp of the Southern Ocean's behavior. "The Saildrone can be part of a more complete observing system down there," said Sutton.
"They are an incredible research platform," added Long.
The Saildrone filmed stormy Southern Ocean seas.Credit: saildroneAnd they're quite sturdy. Saildrone said that it collided with a giant iceberg tall enough to knock off a wind-monitoring instrument affixed 20 feet high on the drone. Though, because the collision occurred at night, it's impossible to know just how big the iceberg was. Icebergs in the area are often miles long.
"It wasn't a small bump," said Sutton.
Still, the drone persevered, though many of its weather-monitoring instruments were damaged in the collision.
SEE ALSO:People downloaded this landmark climate study 1 million timesLooking ahead, if modern civilization hopes to dramatically slash its carbon emissions to net-zero (meaning reducing overall emissions by 100 percent through a combination of cutting emissions and pulling carbon out of the air), governments and policymakers must know almost exactly how much carbon the oceans are soaking up.
"The function of the ocean as a carbon sink is an integral component of our ability to meet net-zero," noted Long.
Though the public increasingly recognizes the mounting threats posed by climate change, the journey to net-zero emissions will be long. Atmospheric CO2 levels are not going down. Rather, they're increasing at rates that are unprecedented in both the historic and geologic record.
Featured Video For You
Ever wonder how the universe might end?
相关文章
Why Kamala Harris triggers Donald Trump so intensely.
As Kamala Harris spoke on the last night of the Democratic National Convention, Donald Trump took to2024-09-22- 本报讯4月30日,名山区房产楼盘杰翎雅苑线上直播看房活动举行,在67分钟的直播中,吸引了2.4万余人次进行“云看房”。在直播活动现场,置业顾问带领着主播从楼盘的整体布局、沙盘、样板房、周围设施、增值空2024-09-22
- 记者近日从中国工商银行获悉,自2016年推出智能客服 “工小智”以来,工行依托领先的科技优势和专业服务能力,将“工小智”推广到短信、融e联、微信等各主要2024-09-22
鎷涜浼佷笟App寮€鍚紒涓氬埛鑴告敮浠樻椂浠涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
銆€銆€涓浗灞变笢缃戦潚宀?1鏈?鏃ヨ缁у埛鑴稿彇娆俱€佸埛鑴歌浆璐︿箣鍚庯紝娣辫€曢噾铻嶇鎶€棰嗗煙鐨勬嫑鍟嗛摱琛屽張鏈夊ぇ鍔ㄤ綔銆傛嫑鍟嗛摱琛屼紒涓欰pp缁煎悎杩愮敤浜鸿劯璇嗗埆銆佹墜鏈鸿瘉2024-09-22We Asked GPT Some Tech Questions, Can You Tell Which Answers Are Human?
ChatGPT and its wordsmith capabilities are all over the news, and for good reason. The large languag2024-09-22- 银行业的竞争,是一种服务与信誉的竞争。优质文明服务是银行员工应具备的基本素质,是打造银行优质品牌,提升银行软实力与核心竞争力的关键,决定着银行的经营效益和长远发展。于是,优质服务成为金融市场运行的规则2024-09-22
最新评论