Boaty McBoatface , the hopeful yellow self-directed robotic Italian sandwich developed by the UK ’s National Oceanography Center ( NOC ) , has safely hark back to its launch ship after traveling 108 kilometre ( 67 miles ) under the almost 600 - meter ( 1,970 - metrical foot ) deep Filchner Ice Shelf ( FIS ) .
The51 - hour expeditiousness , Boaty ’s longest since it was first put to workin 2017 , get together data on the urine movement patterns , temperature , phytoplankton front , and salinity under the 450,000 - square - kilometer ( 173,745 - hearty - mile ) ice shelf that of late detached from Antarctica and now floats in the Weddell Sea .
Designed to accompany the country - of - the - prowess frigid devil dog inquiry vesselRRS Sir David Attenboroughwhen it is completed in 2019 , Boaty ’s latest real - world test was a collaboration between its NOC operator and research worker from the British Antarctic Survey and the German Alfred Wegener Institute .
The group’sFIS Projectseeks to understand how land and sea icing will react to the water warming that is already pass off in other Antarctic region . slate for completion in 2020 , the FIS Project will contribute to aclimate ejection modelused by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change .
Boaty and the gang were channel by the German ice - bust inquiry vessel RV Polarstern . According to project leader Dr Adrian Jenkins , the robotic hero sandwich – officially relate to as an Autosub Long Range ( ALR ) – had to be deploy more than 32 kilometre ( 20 naut mi ) away from the boundary of the FIS because an untenably chummy wrapping of sea ice bar the Polarstern ’s track .
“ I am delighted in the success of this charge . For the engineers require , this was a very thought-provoking deployment that was not without peril , " suppose wind developer Steve McPhail in a statement .
On top of below - freezing atmosphere temperature and the changeless formation of sea ice fence the ship during deployment and recovery , the atmospheric condition under the shelf were fantastically unreliable , with strong tidal current that could knock the submergible off course .
And if the sub did get lose under the ice , the team would n’t have have it off , rent alone been capable to trouble-shoot ; the antsy squad had no communicating with the ALR for 90 percent of its time in the water system . ( thick under GPS - stuff crank , Boaty navigates by comparing sonar readings to stored maps . )
Now that the grinder has proved its mettle , the NOC team are excitedly plan farseeing datum - gathering expeditions for it and its anticipated sibling – once operational , the RSS Attenborough will domiciliate a little fleet of ALRs . Thesevehicles are engineeredto reach depths of 6,000 meters ( 19,700 feet ) and operate for months without needing to re - dock with a aerofoil ship .
" The reason this mission under the Filchner Ice Shelf in the Antarctic is so significant is that it proves the concept of the unexampled Boaty recollective - scope fomite being able to do this form of oeuvre , " Russell Wynn , chief robotics scientist for NOC , said tothe BBC .
[ H / T : The BBC ]
