Interview: Using Robots to Unlock Mysteries of CO2 and the Oceans

As climate change accelerates, scientists are focusing on the key role the world’s oceans play in absorbing half the planet’s carbon dioxide. But the precise mechanisms by which the oceans remove carbon from the atmosphere and the consequences for marine life remain poorly understood. That has led Tracy Villareal, a professor of marine science at the University of Texas at Austin, to devote his research to diatom phytoplankton. To better understand how these tiny organisms mitigate climate change, Villareal has become a pioneer in the use of a wave- and solar-powered ocean-going robot, known as the Wave Glider. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Villareal discusses why unlocking the secrets of diatoms is critical to understanding climate change and how deploying robots will revolutionize marine science. “There are all sorts of wild robotic systems under development,” he says.
Read the interview.