Arabic version: سفينة غير مأهولة تبدأ مهمة لجمع بيانات المناخ في القارة القطبية الجنوبية

According to The Guardian, a seven-metre autonomous vessel has left waters off Hobart on a planned 22,000km journey around Antarctica to gather climate data. The hi-vis orange craft, made by US maritime company Saildrone, is powered by sun and wind and may not return for seven to nine months.

The vessel is expected to travel east towards New Zealand, pass through the Drake Passage between the bottom of South America and Antarctica, continue past South Africa and return to Hobart. Dr Elizabeth Shadwick, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO, said the craft has already faced eight-metre waves and 35-knot winds shortly after deployment.

Designed for the voyage, the vehicle has a heavy keel to keep it upright, a rudder and a fixed solar sail. Saildrone will monitor it remotely by satellite and can adjust its direction if needed. During the mission, it is expected to encounter freezing temperatures, ferocious winds, large waves and wildlife including seals or albatrosses.

Its instruments will measure wind speed, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, ocean temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide levels in the ocean and atmosphere. The data are intended to improve understanding of ocean sinks, which absorb about a third of human emissions each year, with the Southern Ocean playing a significant role.

The craft is the first of four planned vessels, with further launches intended at three-monthly intervals across the Southern, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, particularly during winter. Scientists will access information in near real time through a mission portal, while data and observations will undergo quality checks after the vessels return before being made available for research.