Muscat : The Research Council (TRC) represented by the Institute of Advanced Technology Integration (IATI), in cooperation with Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, conducted the first test in the Sultanate’s waters for the Wave Glider, which is a water probe designed to be used for detecting and collecting samples of groundwater discharged water.
The Wave Glider’s first test in Oman was conducted in Qurayat, starting from Qurayat Port. It included a water landing operation for the Wave Glider, using a ship with a hydraulic crane from Blue Waters LLC. The wireless communication systems and sensors installed on the Glider have also been tested in this trial. The conducted tests proved the high efficiency of the device and its ability in coping with the hot climate conditions of the Sultanate during this period of the year.
The Wave Glider is a multi-use device with a range of uses that include environmental studies, data collection on marine environmental data, meteorology, oceanography, and hydrographic surveys. It can be also used to study the marine phenomena, such as red tide.
The Wave Glider is being developed under the project of ‘Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) – Adaption of an Autonomous Aquatic Vehicle for Robotic Measurements, Sampling and Monitoring’, which is one of the three projects that are carried out by IATI, in cooperation with GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, one of the research centers of Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
Speaking about the objectives of the project, Dr. Omar Said Al Abri, Researcher of the SGD project, said, “The project aims to monitor and track groundwater discharge and flow through the development of innovative methods for tracing the locations and quantities of the water that is discharged to the sea. The research project is concerned with the development of a multi-use water probe called Wave Glider, which can be operated autonomously in seawater and oceans using wave energy and solar energy for monitoring and collecting water samples.”
“One of the main objectives of this project is to find non-traditional sources of water in the sultanate and study how they can be utilized to meet the growing water needs in the country,” Dr. Omar added.
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