Autonomous wave-powered robot completes PacX journey

Liquid Robotics’ Pacific Crossing (PacX) Wave Glider, named Papa Mau, completed its scientific journey across the Pacific Ocean to set a new world record for the longest distance travelled by an autonomous vehicle.

According to Liquid Robotics, Papa Mau navigated along a prescribed route under autonomous control, collecting and transmitting high-resolution ocean data.

The company is providing open access to this data as part of its PacX Challenge, a global competition seeking new ocean applications and research using the PacX data set.

During the journey, Papa Mau is said to have weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef and finally battled and surfed the East Australian Current (EAC) to reach its final destination in Hervey Bay near Bundaberg, Queensland, in Australia.

The vessel travelled through and measured more than 1,200 miles of a chlorophyll bloom along the Equatorial Pacific. These blooms indicate the proliferation of phytoplankton that is fundamental to ocean life and climate regulation. While typically monitored through satellite imagery, direct validation of chlorophyll blooms at this resolution provides a link between scientific modelling and in-situ measurement of the Pacific Ocean.