Dolphin-size robots are giving clues to a thaw of Antarctica's ice in a sign of how technology is revolutionizing data collection in remote polar regions, scientists said on Monday.
An international study led by California Institute of Technology used three yellow "gliders," about 2 meters long and each costing $240,000, to measure temperature and salinity in the depths of the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
The measurements showed how vast eddies drive heat into shallower waters around Antarctica, helping thaw coastal ice.