Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.

Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain i...

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Autores principales:	Gottfried Sachs, Johannes Traugott, Anna P Nesterova, Giacomo Dell'Omo, Franz Kümmeth, Wolfgang Heidrich, Alexei L Vyssotski, Francesco Bonadonna
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/18ef1c91ec9a4438acbb624cc47b8f6f
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:18ef1c91ec9a4438acbb624cc47b8f6f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:18ef1c91ec9a4438acbb624cc47b8f6f2021-11-18T07:06:38ZFlying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0041449https://doaj.org/article/18ef1c91ec9a4438acbb624cc47b8f6f2012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22957014/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain in terms of the energy transfer from the wind to the bird were mostly unknown. Here we show that the energy gain is achieved by a dynamic flight manoeuvre consisting of a continually repeated up-down curve with optimal adjustment to the wind. We determined the energy obtained from the wind by analysing the measured trajectories of free flying birds using a new GPS-signal tracking method yielding a high precision. Our results reveal an evolutionary adaptation to an extreme environment, and may support recent biologically inspired research on robotic aircraft that might utilize albatrosses' flight technique for engineless propulsion.Gottfried SachsJohannes TraugottAnna P NesterovaGiacomo Dell'OmoFranz KümmethWolfgang HeidrichAlexei L VyssotskiFrancesco BonadonnaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e41449 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Gottfried Sachs Johannes Traugott Anna P Nesterova Giacomo Dell'Omo Franz Kümmeth Wolfgang Heidrich Alexei L Vyssotski Francesco Bonadonna Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
description	Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain in terms of the energy transfer from the wind to the bird were mostly unknown. Here we show that the energy gain is achieved by a dynamic flight manoeuvre consisting of a continually repeated up-down curve with optimal adjustment to the wind. We determined the energy obtained from the wind by analysing the measured trajectories of free flying birds using a new GPS-signal tracking method yielding a high precision. Our results reveal an evolutionary adaptation to an extreme environment, and may support recent biologically inspired research on robotic aircraft that might utilize albatrosses' flight technique for engineless propulsion.
format	article
author	Gottfried Sachs Johannes Traugott Anna P Nesterova Giacomo Dell'Omo Franz Kümmeth Wolfgang Heidrich Alexei L Vyssotski Francesco Bonadonna
author_facet	Gottfried Sachs Johannes Traugott Anna P Nesterova Giacomo Dell'Omo Franz Kümmeth Wolfgang Heidrich Alexei L Vyssotski Francesco Bonadonna
author_sort	Gottfried Sachs
title	Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
title_short	Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
title_full	Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
title_fullStr	Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
title_full_unstemmed	Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
title_sort	flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/18ef1c91ec9a4438acbb624cc47b8f6f
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Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.

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