Despite the fact that the oceans cover two thirds of the surface of our planet, we know about them relatively little. Tiny autonomous submarines will come to the aid of researchers in this matter.
Modern models of the world's oceans are far from perfect. They reflect only the general situation and they are sorely lacking in details. Also modern scientists are very interested in the question of the interaction of the oceans with the continents and atmosphere. Autonomous research submarines will help to solve these and many other problems.
“The health of our oceans is a common indicator of the health of our planet,” David Wigglesworth, vice president and general manager of Irirdium responsible for the research program, shared with media representatives. “Our research will help obtain a huge array of high-precision data that scientists need to assess the current state of the oceans.”
The 16 submarines, which the developers called “gliders”, will gather around the clock data on deep ocean currents, temperature, salinity, phytoplankton concentration and much more, which will allow scientists to compare the results with the current models of the oceans and estimate the errors. The gliders are not equipped with engines and will only use the forces of deep-sea currents for movement. Nevertheless, a GPS navigator, a depth measurement sensor and many other devices are installed on each submarine. The collected data will be regularly sent to the research station via satellite communications at the moment when the glider will be on the surface.
Gliders will cover a distance of no more than 30 kilometers per day, which is quite small at first glance. But in the first two years of research, they will cover 128,000 square kilometers in five different oceans, and this is only the beginning of a scientific program.
The information obtained will first of all help scientists improve the accuracy of weather forecasting, which is closely related to water basins, and will also allow for a more thorough investigation of the ocean depths. The gliders will be launched this month as part of the International Conference of Oceanologists, which will be held in London.
According to the materials Telegraph
The article is based on materials .
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