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Prof. Pattiaratchi guides groundbreaking ‘Challenger’ ocean glider back home
Like a father awaiting the return of a beloved son, he has agonised over the journey, guiding it home around noon yesterday in choppy seas off Mirissa in the south, after a few days of delay due to the inclement weather.
Prof. Charitha Pattiaratchi
Prof. Charitha Pattiaratchi recovered the ‘Challenger’ ocean glider by travelling 40km from the coast by boat in very rough weather conditions. “The remotely-controlled Challenger was ‘recovered’ after its own long journey covering more than 7,000km lasting 11 months,” he said of this unmanned mini-submarine which was set off from the western Australian port of Fremantle on November 4, last year.
The journey of Challenger — which zig-zagged in saw-tooth style gathering data on the impact of climate change on the Indian Ocean — is the longest attempted so far by an unmanned ocean glider.
Mapping the mysteries of the Indian Ocean, seven-foot Challenger has glided across the sea, hundreds of kilometres from the coast at depths of up to 1,000 metres, tracked through satellites by Prof. Pattiaratchi and his team.
Prof. Pattiaratchi who is leader of the Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders and Professor of Coastal Oceanography at the Oceans Institute of the University of Western Australia and his team joined forces with Prof. Scott Glenn from Rutgers University and his team to deploy the electric glider.
To the query, “What next”, Prof. Pattiaratchi says Challenger will be put to water at the end of next week, once again in Mirissa, to continue on its data-gathering mission to South Africa (Reunion Island close to Madagascar) and then back to Australia, circumnavigating the Indian Ocean over a three-year period.
'Challenger' being deployed from Fremantle, Australia on Nov. 4 last year
Meanwhile, the welcome ceremony for Challenger will be held tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo amidst a distinguished gathering, with the highlight being the opening of this mini-submarine to recover the flags of Sri Lanka, Australia and the United States of America.
These flags as well as several Letters of Support are encased in tubes in the glider.
The Letters of Support are from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia, Dawn Freshwater; the President of Rutgers University, Robert Barchi; the Director of the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) of Australia, Tim Moltmann; the former Director of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) of the United States of America, Zdenka Willis; the Director of the Perth Office of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), Nick D’Adamo and several others.