saturday, october 29, 2005
Beneath the waves
By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH | The
Pelagia slipped beneath the waves
Thursday morning, the unmanned
rover’s mission to reconnoiter the
waters a few miles off the coast of
this New Hanover County town for
the next week.
But there’s no reason to contact
the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security.
The bright yellow autonomous
glider, whose name is derived from
the Greek word for open ocean, is
the newest tool of the UNCW-based
National Undersea Research Center.
The roving data collector measures
physical and biological changes in the
offshore environment.
NURC engineering technician Jeff
Williams said the glider is limited only
by the life of its 39 pounds of C-cell
alkaline batteries.
The missile-shaped research vehicle surfaces every four hours to
phone home, transmitting data and
vital signs to let scientists know it’s
still functioning.
Mr. Williams said the submersible
moves in a yo-yo pattern, shifting
© 2005 Wilmington Star-News
its battery pack to control pitch and
shooting out sea water to propel
itself.
One of the first users of the glider
is the Coastal Ocean Research and
Monitoring Project, also based at the
University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science.
CORMP is using this week’s mis-
sion partly to gather information about
Hurricane Wilma’s impact on the
near-shore environment.
Steve Hall, a research technician
with CORMP, said the glider offers a
valuable way to expand researchers’
data collection – as long as it avoids
run-ins with the ocean bottom, boats
or fishermen’s nets.
STAFF PHOTO | KEN BLEVINS
Lance Horn and Wendy Woods prepare an underwater rover to be
released off the coast of Wrightsville Beach.