Featured Image Credit: University of Southampton/PA
By Sarah Sharkey
The yellow submarine named “Boaty McBoatface” recently successfully completed its first voyage into the deep and cold waters off the Antarctic Peninsula. The submarine was given this name after officials decided to ignore the results of a public competition.
Originally, this name was supposed to belong to a new polar research ship. But the officials were embarrassed by the name so they named the ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough instead. People were understandable upset that their winning name was ignore so the officials named this submarine “Boaty McBoatface” instead as a means of compromising.
Although the name is very amusing, the real exciting part about this special submarine is its potential to bring back much needed information. The maiden mission obtained “unprecedented data” from its maiden voyage so scientists are excited about the future.
The submarine dove to a depth of 4,000 meters to collect information about temperature, water speed and turbulence. This data will help scientists to understand how the mixing of ocean waters will affect climate change. A professor at the University of Southhampton, Alberto Naveira, said “Our goal is learn enough about these convoluted processes to represent them in the models that scientist use to predict how our climate will evolve over the 21st century and beyond. “
With Boaty at their side, scientists have the tools they need to collect enough data to understand these processes.