Novel UAV technology for atmospheric research

Press release issued: 26 September 2014 A team of scientists and engineers sampling greenhouse gases in the remote South Atlantic have pushed the boundaries of what's possible with lightweight fully autonomous UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) by flying octocopters at altitudes of up to 9,000ft. The researchers, from the University of Bristol, University of Birmingham and Royal Holloway, University of London used the octocopters to obtain samples above the trade wind inversion (TWI) on Ascension Island. Exploiting the extraordinary 'atmospheric reach' of winds arriving at the island from Africa and South America, the team are investigating southern tropical sources of methane, an important factor in the variability of the global methane budget. Together with a wider sampling strategy, the aim of this NERC -funded project is to improve understanding of southern tropical methane sources, their distribution and causes of variability. The carbon fibre UAV Octocopter airframe was custom-designed by Bristol researchers Dr Tom Richardson , Dr Colin Greatwood and Professor Jim Freer. The airframe, with eight contra-rotating motors, was built and tested at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), a partnership between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). The platform was designed to carry equipment developed by Dr Rick Thomas of the University of Birmingham to capture air samples and allow the rapid measurement of temperature and humidity during the flight.