The 33 boats of the IMOCA fleet left Les Sables-d’Olonne for the 9th edition of the round-the-world-race “Vendée Globe”. With the fleet started also two very unique scientific instruments: the OceanPack RACE. The French skipper Fabrice Amedeo (FRA56) and his German college Boris Herrmann (MON10) deployed our autonomous scientific instruments for monitoring essential ocean parameters. The OceanPack RACE records pCO2, sea surface salinity and sea surface temperature during the regatta and provides scientists with very unique measurements. Additionally, a micro plastic sampling unit is installed onboard Fabrice’s boat.
What is so unique about the OceanPack RACE system? Unlike the big and heavy machines for research vessels, our instrument is optimized for its missions on racing yachts. Thanks to the intense use of carbon-fibre for structural parts and components, we nearly halved the weight of the instrument and made it more compact and more robust at the same time. Furthermore, optimized engineering resulted in a significant reduction of power consumption. Most importantly, we kept the scientific requirements in view: all chosen sensors fulfil the high demands of scientific research. As an example, we equipped the boats with ultra-light weight gas bottles for instrument calibration. In a nutshell: all essential components for quality measurements had been realized with the OceanPack RACE system.
Yesterday, a first data set had been arrived on our server and created enthusiasm within the involved scientists. The OceanPack performed perfectly even under the harsh conditions onboard the racing boats. Years of product development paying off now and we are proud to be part of the adventure!
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Click here to learn more about the scientific implementation of the project into the international effort for ocean monitoring and climate research.