"Boaty" Arctic Crossing Plan

Boaty McBoatface, a battery operated research vehicle, could be sent under the sea-ice of the Arctic in 2018 or 2019.

18:49 19 October 2016

Boaty McBoatface, a battery operated research vehicle, could be sent under the sea-ice of the Arctic in 2018 or 2019.

 

The UK’s favourite new yellow submarine, Boaty McBoatface, is undergoing training for a grand challenge that could see the battery operated research vehicle under the sea-ice of the Arctic in 2018 or 2019.  Its journey from one side of the ocean basin to the other covers about 2,500km.

 

Prof Russell Wynn, from the National Oceanography Centre, Boaty's UK base, said: “It represents one of the last great transects on Earth for an autonomous sub,”

 

“Previously, such subs have gone perhaps 150km (horizontally) under the ice and then come back out out again. Boaty will have the endurance to go all the way across the Arctic.”

 

Boaty McBoatface, which is expected to provide information into conditions that hold sway under the ice floes’ more persistent regions, was formally introduced to the public on Monday at keel laying ceremony for Britain’s new £200m polar ship - the RRS Sir David Attenborough.

 

Prof Wynn, who heads NOC’s Marine Autonomous and Robotic Systems (Mars) section, has high hopes for Boaty.

 

He said: “I like to think of Boaty as the marathon-running equivalent of our other underwater vehicles in that it goes deeper, longer but slower. So we have other yellow submarines that go for a couple of days before we have to recover them and recharge the batteries. But the idea with Boaty is that it can operate for months, working in the deepest parts of the ocean.”