Solar boat put to work for researchers

    Updated: 2013-07-07 08:32

    By Henry Fountain(The New York Times)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small

     Solar boat put to work for researchers

    A 30-meter catamaran covered with solar panels stopped in New York on a research cruise. Jabin Botsford / The New York Times

    Solar boat put to work for researchers

    Last year, after it became the first solar-powered boat to circumnavigate the globe, the Turanor Planetsolar could have taken its 510 square meters of photovoltaic cells and seven metric tons of lithium-ion batteries and sailed off into the sunset.

    Instead, the boat will cruise the Gulf Stream studying the role of atmospheric aerosols and phytoplankton in regulating climate, under the direction of Martin Beniston, a climatologist at the University of Geneva.

    The research cruise began in Miami and will stop in Newfoundland and Iceland as it tracks the northeasterly current. The voyage is expected to end in Bergen, Norway, in August.

    In mid-June, the boat stopped in New York City for a few days. The 30-meter, $17 million catamaran was dreamed up by a Swiss eco-adventurer and bankrolled by a German businessman. Completely powered by the sun - the high-efficiency solar cells charge the batteries that power electric motors connected to the craft's twin propellers - it produces no emissions of carbon dioxide or other gases that could contaminate air samples. And the boat has no problem going slowly, if necessary, as it samples the water - its average speed is a sluggish five knots.

    Research equipment added includes a "ferrybox" that constantly records the temperature, salinity and other characteristics of the water. It also has a "biobox," developed by the university's applied physics department, which uses a laser to analyze the number and type of aerosols in air samples.

    The problem of ocean-generated aerosols - solid or liquid particles in the atmosphere that can have an impact through cloud formation, reflection of sunlight and other processes - is a relatively new one in climate science, Dr. Beniston said. "We suppose that the ocean must be a fairly large contributor" of aerosols through the action of waves and wind, he said. "Their exact role is still open to question."

    Dr. Beniston's plan is to examine smaller-scale structures in the Gulf Stream, including eddies, swirling offshoots of the current. Eddies tend to have more upwelling of colder, deeper water than the Gulf Stream itself, so one goal is to see whether different water conditions produce different aerosols. Bastiaan Ibelings, a microbial ecologist at the University of Geneva, wants to see whether the conditions in eddies result in more or less biological diversity than elsewhere.

    The boat, which ended its 19-month, 59,500-kilometer circumnavigation in May 2012, is "an ambassador for solar energy," said Gerard d'Aboville, its current captain.

    Planetsolar poses some unique challenges. In addition to wind, waves and current, Mr. d'Aboville must constantly consider the amount of sunlight hitting the photovoltaic cells, keeping the batteries as charged as possible. (They can power the boat for about 72 hours when fully charged.)

    He said: "I have this new parameter of the sun, and it makes life interesting."

    The New York Times

    (China Daily 07/07/2013 page9)

    免费无码黄网站在线看| 无码激情做a爰片毛片AV片| 亚洲国产精品无码久久久久久曰 | 久久亚洲精品无码VA大香大香| 波多野结AV衣东京热无码专区| 中文字幕手机在线观看| 中文字幕乱妇无码AV在线| 精品无码久久久久久尤物| 久久亚洲精品成人无码网站| 日本中文字幕中出在线| 国产成人亚洲综合无码| 无码一区二区三区在线观看 | 亚洲视频无码高清在线| 日韩成人无码中文字幕| 国产精品xxxx国产喷水亚洲国产精品无码久久一区 | 最新中文字幕在线观看| 最近中文字幕在线中文视频| 日韩久久无码免费毛片软件| 精品无码一区二区三区爱欲| 无码午夜人妻一区二区三区不卡视频 | 无码成人精品区在线观看| 亚洲日本中文字幕| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线r▽| 无码少妇一区二区浪潮av| 国产福利电影一区二区三区久久老子无码午夜伦不 | 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线播放 | 中文字幕无码不卡在线| 精品人妻无码专区中文字幕| а天堂中文在线官网| 中文在线资源天堂WWW| 亚洲精品无码鲁网中文电影| 亚洲日韩乱码中文无码蜜桃臀网站| 伊人蕉久中文字幕无码专区| 亚洲国产精品无码久久青草 | 最近中文字幕mv免费高清在线| 中文国产成人精品久久不卡| 永久无码精品三区在线4| 免费无码午夜福利片| 小泽玛丽无码视频一区| 亚洲高清有码中文字| 国产中文欧美日韩在线|