Skip to main content

China’s new robotic submarine doesn’t just chase typhoons, it dives into them

Siping Zheng

It might sound like something out of a techno-thriller, but it’s not: Scientists in China really have developed an unmanned submarine that is designed to travel into potentially deadly typhoons and other extreme weather types and fire off weather-monitoring rockets.

One of these “rocketsondes,” designed to perform weather analysis in situations that would prove challenging for weather balloons or human observers, was recently launched as a demo. The rockets contain instruments for recording accurate meteorological measurements at heights of up to 26,000 feet and then transmitting them to people on the ground using radio. The result of the test launch was described in a research paper published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

Related Videos

“The unmanned semi-submersible vehicle is an ideal platform for marine meteorological environmental monitoring, and the atmospheric profile information provided by rocketsonde launched from this platform can improve the accuracy of numerical weather forecasts at sea and in coastal zones,” study co-author Jun Li, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in a statement. “Similar to Argo (the broad-scale global array of profiling floats that measures temperature/salinity in the ocean) which provides profiles of Thermohaline current, rocketsonde can provide profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity, pressure and wind observations.”

This isn’t the first time that China has explored the possibilities posed by autonomous subs. Several years ago it was reported that the country was testing a fleet of advanced underwater drones with potential military applications in the South China Sea. These “sea wings” drones were reported to be capable of instantly relaying underwater data to the Chinese military. (Don’t worry if you’re concerned the United States is being left behind, though: The U.S. Navy has also actively investigated the potential of self-driving seagoing vessels.)

According to the creators of China’s latest meteorological rocket-firing drone sub, the hope is that it will be possible to provide more accurate weather readings during severe sea conditions in a way that’s both technically feasible and affordable. They are also busy developing a new generation of similar subs, capable of gathering even more useful data. This will include information such as water temperature, current velocity, and wave height and direction.

Editors' Recommendations

Bitcoin has a massive carbon footprint. This clever new cryptocurrency doesn’t
A broken Bitcoin over a grey background.

Bitcoin is undoubtedly exciting, but, as much as it might promise to solve some of the problems associated with global finance, it’s also responsible for creating problems of its own. The most concerning of these is the environmental impact of mining cryptocurrency due to the huge amounts of electricity it requires. This, in turn, results in tens of millions of metric tons worth of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere.

That’s a big cause for concern, and it’s something that researchers at Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have been working to come up with a solution for. In contrast to the large electricity consumption and carbon footprint of Bitcoin, they are developing a new approach to cryptocurrencies they hope could lead to a near zero-energy alternative.

Read more
Your smartphone could be the key to predicting natural disasters
atmospheric science smartphone iot 203650 web 1

Wireless communication links, social networks, and smartphones as examples of data-generating sources that can be harnessed for environmental monitoring. Noam David

One of the challenges for atmospheric scientists is gathering enough data to understand the complex, planet-wide weather system. As atmospheric changes in one location can have profound effects on the climate in far away regions, it's hard for researchers working in any one place to get all the information they need to make inferences about weather patterns.

Read more
Did there used to be liquid water on Mars? New images give clues
liquid water topographical images esa image 6946 2e mars ancient rivers 1

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a valley network on Mars. This oblique perspective view was generated using a digital terrain model and Mars Express data gathered on November 19, 2018. ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Although it's now well known that there is frozen water on Mars, scientists are not yet certain whether liquid water exists on the planet. Researchers have discovered what may be liquid water hidden under an ice cap and have speculated the water could theoretically be warmed by underground volcanoes, but the presence of liquid water is far from certain. However, Mars may be cold and dry now, but evidence suggests in the distant past the conditions on the planet were very different.

Read more