[Tyler]

New UAVs Flying in Antarctica to Study Warming
     

As global
warming erodes the massive Antarctic ice shelves faster anticipated,
you may not be expecting any good
news from the south pole. But According
to the Engineer Online, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the
University of Braunschweig (TUBS) have teamed up for a series of UAV
flights in the Antarctic. While the article describes these as the first
UAVs to be used in this part of the world, a reader comments that
Russian researchers were flying fixed and rotary wing UAVs in Antarctica
as much as 5 years ago. The new UAVs take off and land under human
control and operate autonomously during the rest of the mission. So far
the UAVs have completed over 20 flights. Each flight lasts about 40
minutes, covers 45 km, and returns over 100 measurments per second of
heat exchange rates in the atmosphere and sea ice. The bright, white ice
reflects lots of heat and, as more of the ice melts, less heat is
reflected, increasing the rate of warming even more. For more on the
robots, see the
BBC video of
the UAVs in action. More photos and info on BAS UAV project can be
found in the BAS
press release. The BAS site also has  photos
and video of the latest ice shelf collapse.
   

http://robots.net/article/2505.html