The most advanced autonomous buoy ever developed in the UK has been launched off the coast of Devon to monitor the health of our oceans.
Plymouth Marine Laboratory has spent two years building the near nine-metre tall buoy, which is packed with sensors and monitoring equipment.
It cost more than half a million pounds, weighs around three tonnes and is powered solely by wind and solar.
The buoy, which will be based five miles from the Plymouth coast in the Western Channel Observatory, will monitor key indicators for climate research.
“It’s one of a kind” said Oban Jones, a marine science technologist for the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. “There’s nowhere else in the world at the moment that’s going to be doing what we’re doing,”
He told Sky News the data will be made widely available around the world. “It’s a test and a trial, but it will also give us results that are published on our website and go on to help make policy in the UK and internationally.”
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