Canberra: Robotic floats armed with sensors will be launched in the Indian Ocean as part of a new India-Australia research partnership to study the Indian Ocean, authorities said Wednesday. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) made the announcement.
The Indian Ocean contains vast fisheries and mineral resources that are of strategic importance to both Australia and India. It also plays a direct role in driving the climates of its surrounding regions — home to more than 16 percent of the world’s population.
CSIRO said the new “Bio Argo” floats, to be launched in mid 2014, will enhance the already successful Argo float technology to measure large-scale changes in the chemistry and biology of marine ecosystems below the Indian Ocean’s surface.
By studying the Indian Ocean in this detail, we can investigate the origin and impact of marine heatwaves like the one that devastated the coral reefs and fisheries off north Western Australian in 2011 — and improve our prediction of them in the future,” Hardman-Mountford said.
CSIR-NIO Director Wajih Naqvi said the novel technological innovation will give researchers from both countries a new understanding of the Indian Ocean. The USD 880,000 project was funded in part by the Australian government under the Australia- India Strategic Research Fund.
Bureau Report
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