Categorized | Featured, Sci-Tech

Wave Glider completes 9,000-mile Pacific journey to set new world record

(Image courtesy of Liquid Robotics)


U.S. based Liquid Robotics, an ocean data service provider and developer of the Wave Glider, the first wave powered autonomous marine robot, has announced the first Pacific Crossing (PacX) Wave Glider, “Papa Mau”, completed its 9,000 nautical mile (16,668 kilometers) scientific journey across the Pacific Ocean to set a new world record for the longest distance traveled by an autonomous vehicle.

Throughout its journey, Papa Mau navigated along a prescribed route under autonomous control collecting and transmitting unprecedented amounts of high-resolution ocean data never before available over these vast distances or timeframes.

The company is providing open access to this data as part of its PacX Challenge, a global competition seeking new ocean applications and research using the PacX data set.

The company has announced the five PacX Challenge finalists.

During Papa Mau’s journey, it weathered gale force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the East Australian Current (EAC) to reach its final destination in Hervey Bay near Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.

It traveled through and measured more than 1,200 miles of a chlorophyll bloom along the Equatorial Pacific. These blooms indicate proliferation of phytoplankton that is fundamental to ocean life and climate regulation.

While typically monitored through satellite imagery direct validation of chlorophyll blooms at this resolution provides a groundbreaking link between scientific modeling and in-situ measurement of the Pacific Ocean.





The five PacX finalists are:

* J. Michael Beman, University of California Merced, Merced, Calif.
* Nicole Goebel, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif.
* Andrew Lucas, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif.
* Elise Ralph, Wise Eddy, Boston, Mass.
* Tracy Villareal, University of Texas, Port Aransas, Texas

Closely following Papa Mau’s arrival in Australia is the second of the Australian PacX ocean robots, named Benjamin. It is expected to land in early 2013.

One of the pair heading for Japan, Fontaine Maru, is returning to Hawaii for repair and will continue his journey to Japan once complete.

To follow the Wave Gliders’ progress, visit: www.liquidr.com/pacx/

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Jan 20, 2017 / 5:15 pm



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