Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Science & Technology > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Science & Technology

Boaty McBoatface prepares for first mission

By T.K. Randall
March 13, 2017 · Comment icon 3 comments

Boaty McBoatface will be venturing beneath the Orkney Passage. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Liam Quinn
The humorously named research submarine is preparing to venture beneath the waters of the Antarctic.
Perhaps the best known example of why asking the public to name something is a bad idea, the small yellow robot submarine acquired its peculiar name after the public were given the chance to vote for what to call the Natural Environment Research Council's new research vessel.

While the ship itself eventually ended up being named RRS Sir David Attenborough, its robotic submarine was assigned the unusual moniker to satisfy the result of the public vote.

Boaty McBoatface is now set to embark on its first ever mission which will see it descend to depths of up to 3.5km beneath the Orkney Passage to the south of Chile.
It is hoped that its findings will help scientists learn more about the effects of global warming.


"The Orkney Passage is a key choke-point to the flow of abyssal waters in which we expect the mechanism linking changing winds to abyssal water warming to operate," said Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato.

"We will measure how fast the streams flow, how turbulent they are, and how they respond to changes in winds over the Southern Ocean."

"Our goal is to learn enough about these convoluted processes to represent them in the models that scientists use to predict how our climate will evolve over the 21st century and beyond."

Source: The Guardian | Comments (3)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Black Monk 7 years ago
The ship should be named Boaty McBoatface. That is the name the British public voted for.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Why not 7 years ago
I Like It.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Myles 7 years ago
Me too.   If they want to generate interest, they should continue calling it Boaty McBoatface.  


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles