R/V Kilo Moana hosts deep-sea Trials for Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE

UH research vessel Kilo Moana

The final phase of the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE is underway in the open ocean off Hawaii on SOEST’s R/V Kilo Moana. An all-star team of oceanographers, marine technicians, XPRIZE staffers and five finalist teams are headed out to sea for the culmination of a global competition to create accurate and affordable ocean pH sensors.

The remaining teams successfully completed two previous rounds of testing to measure the precision and stability of their sensors and were selected by a panel of judges to advance to deep-sea trials.

During deep-sea testing, each sensor will attempt to accurately measure pH at depths of up to 3,000 meters. The efforts of these teams, both during and after this competition, will help revolutionize our understanding of one of the ocean’s greatest threats: acidification.

Read more on Huffington Post and watch the report on KITV.