The project workshop took place between the 10th and 14th of July 2013 on the island of São Miguel.
In this campaign, a probe with instrumentation installed close to the coast was tested, a system for releasing the probe at depth, the emergence and data transmission capacity of a probe released from a balloon and an optimization of the launch conditions and controlled descent of an atmospheric probe launched from a high-altitude balloon.
A project meeting was also held
The Oceans 2023 congress took place between June 5th and 8th, 2023 in the city of Limerick, in which a work within the scope of the SONDA project was presented, with the title “Synchronus Oceanic Atmospheric Data Aquisition: field test release and validation of atmospheric, oceanographic, and deep-sea probes in the Azores Islands“, where the results of the tests carried out in São Miguel were presented.
The general assembly of the EGU (European Geosciences Union) took place between the 23rd and the 28th of April 2023, in which two works within the scope of the SONDA project were presented, one with the title “Periodical behaviour of air CO2 time series after Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption“, on the periodicity of CO2 emissions after the volcano of Cumbre Vieja, in the town of Puerto Naos on the island of La Palma in the Canaries, and the other with the title “Ground-based volcanic ash detection with low-cost sensors – a case study at the 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption” on the detection of ash using low-cost and easy-to-implement sensors.
On the 24th of October, a workshop was held in Lisbon where the resistance of a model for a free fall probe was tested.
The team met at the IDMEC facilities at Instituto Superior Técnico to plan the tests to be carried out and these took place on the Marechal Carmona bridge.
With these tests it was intended to understand the forces involved and the resistance of the materials used. For this, a device with an accelerometer and a gyroscope was coupled.
Last September 2022, a demonstration action of the SONDA solution was carried out within the scope of the Naval Robotics Experimentation (Naval-REX), where a high-altitude balloon was launched.
The eighth edition of the Naval-Robotic Exercise 2022 (Naval-REX 22), was promoted by the Naval Academy, through the Naval Research Center (CINAV), and took place until September 8, 2022 at the Navy Operational Experimentation Center (CEOM) , in Troy.
In this edition, Naval-REX 22 included the participation of several university institutions and research centers, with the aim of testing and demonstrating technology developed by these centers, mainly in the area of robotics, in areas of potential interest to the Navy. It is worth highlighting the participation of elements from the Instituto Superior Técnico, the Escola Superior Náutica Infante D. Henrique and the Research Center of the Air Force Academy.
Professor Alexandra Moutinho Department of Mechanical Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and researcher at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IDMEC), participated in the radio program “90 Segundos de Ciência” on Antena 1, where she spoke about the SONDA project.
Shee mentioned that the SONDA project aims to complement the existing means of environmental monitoring via satellite.
She also revealed that it was possible to detect ash and gases expelled by the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the volcanic plume, at ground level, and in aquatic probes, which also allowed us to understand how the lava that had reached the coastal area was affecting that location.
The 2022 general assembly of the EGU (European Geosciences Union) took place between the 3rd and the 8th of April 2022, in which two works within the scope of the SONDA project were presented, one with the title “Low-Cost, Fast Deployment Multi-Sensor Observations Of The 2021 Cumbre Vieja Eruption” (Click here to download the presentation), on the use of low-cost, easy-to-build and easy-to-implement sensors, and the other with the title “Air quality real-time monitoring during volcanic crises with low-cost sensors: the Cumbre Vieja volcano study case” about monitoring the air with the corresponding sensors.
On January 31st, the academic page of ENGIUM was launched – Engineering Portal of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, entitled “Researchers from the School of Engineering study the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma”.
On January 31, 2022, the academic page of the SONDA project was published on the Instituto Superior Técnico website, entitled “SONDA: an innovative system that reinforces the capacity for atmospheric and oceanic monitoring”.
