Remote-controlled aircraft are expected to revolutionise academic marine research in Scotland by the summer.
The planes, which will be piloted from the ground, are to be used by a research facility in the Highlands to collect scientific data.
They can monitor a range of subjects from the movement of jellyfish to the arrival of non-native species of seaweed, the melting of sea ice and how mammals such as seals relate to offshore energy projects.
A crew to fly the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is now being trained at Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) laboratories at Dunstaffnage, north of Oban.
Philip Anderson, SAMS' Head of Marine Technology and a veteran of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), is leading the team.
He said they would be trained at SAMS and that initial flights would be from the North Argyll base, but added: "In the longer term the plan is to launch the aircraft from research vessels, thereby increasing enormously the area they can cover."
He said the coast of Argyll was an ideal area to develop these aircraft, with hundreds of miles of desolate coastline to survey as they fly below 400ft.
"This aircraft can scoot off over a mile away in all directions, allowing for a huge survey footprint compared to what a vessel by itself could achieve. By next year we hope to be able to head north to the Arctic to look at the sea ice," Mr Anderson said.
Apart from take-off and landing, when the UAVs are controlled by radio, the aircraft fly according to pre-programmed flight plans. But before that there is a lot of paperwork to be completed. "When we are doing the tests at the base here at Dunbeg, we will also have to make sure we are not interfering with the flights to and from the airport at North Connel," said Mr Anderson
The UAVs are being developed at a cost of between £1000 and £10,000.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article