Climate Scientists Request Protection From Somali Pirates

Monday, July 18, 2011 - 11:30 in Earth & Climate

First Australian climate scientists had to go into witness protection. Now they're being threatened by pirates. Or their research is, anyway. Climate scientists are asking the Australian and U.S. navies to help ward off pirates so they can deploy robotic instruments in the western Indian Ocean, reports the Telegraph. Related ArticlesNavy Taps the Crowdsourcing Power of Online Gaming to Fight Somali PiratesU.S. Deploys Reaper Drones Off Somalia Just in Time for Pirate SeasonWitness Protection For Scientists: After Death Threats, Australian Climate Researchers Are Moved To Secure LocationsTagsScience, Rebecca Boyle, climate change, ocean currents, oceans, pirates, robots, somali pirates, underwater robots, weatherResearchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) want to deploy about 20 monitoring instruments north of Mauritius, a tiny island off the east coast of Madagascar. The devices are programmed to submerge and resurface, recording ocean heat and salinity patterns and transmitting data to satellites. The data...

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