Bermuda could help to revolutionise the world of oceanography, thanks to the success a self-propelled undersea glider named ?Spray?.

Spray, a joint project between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego, arrived in Bermuda on November 1 after making its maiden journey across the Atlantic.

The six-foot long glider is shaped like a rounded bullet at both ends, and has a four-foot wing span.

It made the 600-mile journey seven weeks, travelling 12 knots a day. Because most of the journey took place in the Gulf Stream, with a six-knot current constantly pushing it north, scientists had to ?talk? to it on a regular basis to readjust the course.

The glider descended to 3,500 feet and back again to the surface three times each day, Bermuda Biological Station for Research director Dr. Tony Knap said.

At the surface, it relayed its position and information it had gathered before diving again.

The glider takes basic observations such as temperature, salinity, and depth, and Dr. Knap said many other sensors are being developed which can hopefully be attached to future gliders.

One thought, he said, is to have two gliders travelling back and forth between Woods Hole and Bermuda on a round-trip basis. The continuous flow of information, he said, could help scientists with studies such as the effects of global warming on the Gulf Stream.

One of the instruments which could be attached to the glider is an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), which measure the velocity of currents.

Several years ago, Dr. Knap said, a glider 21 feet long and six feet wide visited the BBSR. One good thing about Spray, he said, is that it is small enough to be picked up by the BBSR?s smaller research vessel, the , meaning BBSR?s ship the will not have to be taken out every time the glider reaches Bermuda.

The most significant advantage to the glider, however, is that ? unlike humans ? it doesn?t get tired. The device is powered by batteries and onboard computers, and relays data back to scientists by satellite.

?The key is that Spray can stay at sea for months at relatively low cost, allowing us to observe large-scale changes under the ocean surface that might otherwise go unobserved,? Scripps researcher Russ Davis said in a press statement.