Scientists to monitor Earth’s oceans health using robots

Following years-long successful employ as a tool for study of the Southern Ocean’s frigid waters, a pool of oceanographers and researchers are deploying more robots in certain parts of the planet, covering a greater expanse, including the North Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

Having kickstarted in March through the release of the initial 500 advanced floating robots, a project dubbed Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array, or GO-BGC, is launched and is anticipated that more pertinent information will be gathered, such that researchers are able to get a better picture of our planet’s vast ocean and its state of existence.

As per project director and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) senior scientist, Ken Johnson, the objective of the project is to check parts of the world’s oceans, particularly their health, where human presence is limited and infrequent.

Although technically designed to hover above the water’s surface, part of the robots’ functionality is to go deep below waters, going as far as 6,500 feet, and then going back to the surface in order to transmit data via satellite.

Source: Reuters