Solar-Powered Boat has Reached Paris

         The world's largest solar-powered boat, Turanor PlanetSolar, has docked on the banks of Seine River, its final port of its 3-month voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to study how the Gulf Stream and climate change could influence each other. Starting from Miami in June, University of Geneva scientists had sailed up the eastern seaboard of the United States, then across the Atlantic Ocean, taking water and air measurements that should allow them to better understand the complex interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. 

         The expedition's chief climatologist Martin Beniston commented, "Our first surprise when we started looking at the data is the quantity of the aerosols that are actually injected into the atmosphere by the ocean, which means we might have underestimated the climatic role of the oceans via aerosols."

For more details about Turanor PlanetSolar, click here. 

Solar Impulse: Last Trip from Washington, D.C., to New York

            The ultimate goal for Solar Impulse was to fly across the globe powered solely upon the sun's rays. So far, it has accomplished many goals in the last three years: in 2010, it flew for 26 hours straight; in 2011, it flew from Belgium to Paris, France and in 2012, a prototype had completed the first intercontinental flight connecting from Europe to Africa. This year, it proposed a challenge to fly across United States from the East coast to the West. 

The itinerary featured: from San Francisco (California) to Phoenix (Arizona) to Dallas (Texas) to St. Louis (Missouri) ending in the last haul to Washington, D.C., and New York

The fourth leg from St. Louis to Washington, D.C., has been completed successfully while the trip from Washington D.C., to New York is steadily approaching. You can view updates and the schedule for the rest of the historic flight here.

There are also many videos of their stops featured here.