Researchers Use UAS to Help Analyze Ocean’s Skin
Scientists on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor ship recently completed a successful trip on sea analyzing the ocean’s “skin,” also known as the microlayer, thanks in large part to the use of UAS.
According to Cristopher Zappa from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, the UAS performed as expected.
“The vehicles and instrument payloads performed how they were supposed to, allowing us to gather some very interesting data of the ocean’s surface in high resolution,” Zappa said via press release.
After departing from Darwin, Australia a month ago, the team on board the Falkor used UAS and other vehicles equipped with sensors to conduct 17 sampling stations along its transit trip. The UAS were used to help collect water samples and data from the atmosphere, as well as measure ocean color and phytoplankton.
Chief Scientist Oliver Wurl from the University of Oldenburg said he hopes this latest mission on sea will go a long way in helping figure out the ocean’s role in climate change.
“The sea-surface microlayer plays a vital role in the uptake and release of greenhouse gases, including methane and carbon dioxide via the ocean,” Wurl said. “Even the latest models ignore what happens at the sea surface, we hope this research will change that helping to inform computer models to improve forecasts of climate change.”
