A submersible christened Boaty McBoatface after a public vote to name a polar research ship backfired is being sent on its first Antarctic mission.

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) will investigate water flow and turbulence in the Orkney Passage, a 2.17-mile (3.5km) deep area of the Southern Ocean.

Boaty became famous last year after the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked members of the public to name the research vessel.

A huge majority backed a campaign for the name Boaty McBoatface - but officials rejected the winner and instead chose to name the ship after naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Image: An artist's impression of the RRS Sir David Attenborough

As a compromise they announced a remotely operated submersible would be named in honour of the more popular choice.


Boaty is to depart Punta Arenas in Chile on 17 March with the DynOPO (Dynamics of Orkney Passage Outflow) expedition.

The craft will travel through a cold abyssal current that forms a key part of the global circulation of ocean water.

Lead scientist Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato, from the University of Southampton, said: "The Orkney Passage is a key choke-point to the flow of abyssal waters in which we expect the mechanism linking changing winds to abyssal water warming to operate.

Image: The keel-laying ceremony for the RRS Sir David Attenborough in October 2016

"We will measure how fast the streams flow, how turbulent they are, and how they respond to changes in winds over the Southern Ocean.

"Our goal is to learn enough about these convoluted processes to represent them in the models that scientists use to predict how our climate will evolve over the 21st century and beyond."

BAS oceanographer and co-investigator Dr Povl Abrahamsen said: "The DynOPO project will provide us with a unique, high-resolution dataset combining moored and moving instruments, which will help us get to the bottom of the complex physical processes occurring in this important region."