Matthew Sheahan

COULD THIS BE THE VERY TIME TO QUANTIFY THE EFFECT OF COMMERCIAL SHIPPING ON GLOBAL EMISSIONS?

Who would have thought that the polite way to greet a friend would be to cross to the other side of the road? Who’d have imagined international airports would be closed and the skies free from contrails? Weeks ago when the global warming debate was raging and the consensus that something had to be done was growing faster than ever, no one suggested or believed that it would be possible to shut the world down in a couple of weeks. Few would have anticipated the abrupt halt of the handshake and such a fundamental change in how we interact with each other. And no one could have predicted such a dramatic decline in transport and the emissions related to it.

Like many, I have been fascinated to see just how quickly the skies cleared as highlighted iby the flightradar24. com website that shows real time movement of the world’s aircraft. Across most of the planet, with the exception of the USA and chunks of Asia, there was so little in the air that you could make out the underlying shapes of the countries with ease. Contrast that to the plots of global shipping as presented by the online AIS trackers and it’s clear how sea trade is still functioning commercially and shipping is carrying although air traffic has almost stopped.

Could this be an opportunity to tackle the emissions elephant in the room, namely the amount of pollution that comes from world shipping? Surely now must be the time to quantify the effect that human activity is having on the planet when we know what we’ve turned off. At least, it would if we could get out there and measure it.

So how about sending fleets of autonomous vessels out to sea to measure it for us? There are plenty of them.

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) or drones have become increasingly common, there has also been a steady stream of Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVS) taking to the water, among them some pretty chunky ones.

In the UK one in particular made the scientific headlines last year after

Sea-kit’s 12m Maxlimer made a successful autonomous crossing of the North Sea from West Mersea in the UK to Oostende, Belgium. The trip took 22 hours and delivered a 5kg box of oysters to the Belgian customs officials who greeted it. Maxlimer was designed and developed by

Hush Craft in Tollesbury, Essex, and can carry a respectable 2.5 tonnes as well as being designed for a wide range of other tasks.

Whether the benefit of an unmanned vessel is in reducing costs, getting to places where you wouldn’t want to risk humans, or whether you simply want to collect data, the benefits are clear to see.

But there are other devices that are even more capable. In the USA, Ocean Aero are about to deliver a fleet of intelligent autonomous marine vehicles to the Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate for a research, evaluation and testing programme.

And while these vessels are just a third of the length of Maxlimer, they have the ability to travel underwater as well.

Environmentally powered using a combination of 3m tall wingsail and electric power taken from solar cells and a battery bank, these Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicles (AUSVS) can fend for themselves on the surface for over three months and head underwater for a variety of periods and depths. To achieve this, the double articulating wingsail retracts by folding backwards on its deck stepped tabernacle-style mast foot.

The pluckiest model can survive for over eight days underwater and reach depths of 200m. Once beneath the surface it uses an Inertial Navigation System coupled with a Doppler Velocity Log to navigate. This is a sophisticated reconnaissance vessel. Data gathering is what it does in its sleep.

So while it is possible to send gifts to Customs officers without polluting the planet, there is also plenty of other proven technology out there to measure what’s going on when the world shuts down.

Presumably these vessels are at far less risk of being run down by the world’s leisure craft now our boats are tied to the dock and as we

all get used to not passing too close.

‘Is this the time to quantify the effects of human activity?’