"Falkor" expedition: unmanned aeroplanes take off from a research vessel for the first time
Processes in the atmosphere and the ocean largely determine the global climate and its changes. The exchange of energy and matter between the atmosphere and the ocean is particularly crucial here. However, the ocean surface has so far been largely neglected in climate research.
An international team of scientists from Germany, the USA and the UK, led by Dr Oliver Wurl, head of the Marine Surfaces working group at the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg, is now hoping to gain new insights. From 10 October to 9 November, they will be travelling in the Indian Ocean and Pacific on the research vessel "Falkor". The route will take them from Darwin, Australia, to Guam, the southernmost island of the Mariana archipelago.
The aim of the expedition is to use newly developed technologies to take a closer look at the role of the sea surface in exchange processes. Five of the twelve experts are marine scientists from the ICBM - all researchers from the "Sea Surfaces" and "Marine Geochemistry" working groups.
The expedition will be the first time that unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 3.6 metres will take off from a research vessel to scan the sea surface with cameras and highly sensitive thermal and optical measuring instruments. The Falkor scientific team is equipping the aircraft, which can stay in the air for between four and six hours and cover a distance of up to one hundred kilometres, with various sensors. "They take off like helicopters, but have never been used on a ship for research purposes before - we are eagerly awaiting their first deployment," explains Wurl.
Wurl's group is also using a remote-controlled catamaran developed at the ICBM to take samples directly from the sea surface. These are then analysed later in the laboratory. The catamaran also scans the sea surface using the latest sensor technology.
In addition to aeroplanes and catamarans, the Oldenburg scientists use autonomous buoys to measure gas exchange processes between the ocean and the atmosphere. With the help of the buoys, the change in carbon dioxide (CO2) can be recorded over a period of 20 minutes. The aim is to be able to better describe the absorption of greenhouse gases by the surface of the ocean.
The research vessel "Falkor" is operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute - a US foundation founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. "The use of remote-controlled aircraft, autonomous measuring buoys and the research catamaran - and the associated potential for new discoveries - convinced the Schmidt Ocean Institute to make the Falkor available for our expedition for five weeks," says Wurl. "Because even if the sea surface appears to be easily accessible, exploring the extremely thin layer is just as technologically challenging as researching in the deep sea."
Note for members of the press:
Dr Oliver Wurl will be happy to provide you with an interview and answer any questions in the run-up to and during the expedition.
