Dynamic Soaring: How the Wandering Albatross Can Fly for Free

The wandering albatross spends weeks, even months, at sea without ever returning to land. With precise GPS data and custom navigation software, researchers have finally figured out how.
Read more: spectrum.ieee.o...
Animation: Institute of Flight System Dynamics
Photos courtesy of: Johannes Traugott

[@jo-han]

Finally I see some research about this pattern. I've seen lots of seabirds like seagulls and the like use this same pattern on open see and always wandered how efficient it would be because it looked like they (almost) didn't move their wings. Thank you for this animation and the explanation.

[@ot8479]

No they freaking do NOT! Each bird's flight is different. And seagulls can't do crap, in fact they don't migrate and can't fly long distances. Their anatomy is completely different and couldn't soar even if they tried because of laws biomechanics and physics. Albatross and swallows have pushed forward the work of engineers because in fact their abilities (completely different) have been studied to design jets (swallows), and to improve mechanics of flight of several aircrafts.

[@jo-han]

@@ot8479 Lol :) Are you affiliated with the "the agency against seagulls"? I agree that compared to albatrosses and swallows seagull might be loosing the battle in long distance flying. But uhm compared to us, you try flying 200km a day without using an external engine. :) Not all seagull species migrate or soar, but definitely some do migrate and some do try to soar and come quite close although they might need more energy expenditure and wing flaps then an albatross it still saves them energy otherwise used flapping :)

[@falcoperegrinus82]

@@ot8479 Wrong and stupid in so many ways... Many species of gull are in fact highly migratory and are well capable of flying extremely long distances (Arctic Tern has one of the longest migrations of any animal on earth) gulls can soar very well and Kittiwakes do use dynamic soaring. So because gulls don't employ the same mode of flying as Procellarids that means they "can't do crap"? Like wtf are you saying? Gulls can also kite, hover, turn on a dime and take off instantly, which are things birds like Albatrosses cannot do.

[@dougieboboot-na-boot5877]

I recently watched a video of the world's fastest radio controlled planes. I was expecting it to be one of those new high speed jets to be the fastest, but it was actually a glider!!! It got up to 450mph doing a continuous dynamic soaring loop on the leeward side of a slope.

[@chuckweber542]

Wow.see you learn something everyday that's cool as hell.

[@Weaseltube]

I'm just learning about this now, and the latest record is 548 mph! kzbin.info/www/bejne/apapdZKNn5uXns0 Also fascinating: there is speculation this method might be adaptable to space travel by exploiting variations in solar winds in a similar way!

[@Jartisann]

Made me a good laugh at the very end.

[@ferretpuns8246]

I believe she's referring to the albatross piloting the plane.

[@nchurmdazz]

@@ferretpuns8246 the sailplane

[@SabrinaHill]

This is no big deal. It is how I soar the ridgelines in a glider. I would do this for hours, on Ka'ala Ridge, after an aero tow behind an old Ex-Army "L-bird", to 800 feet. in an SGS 1-26 from HDH.

[@lukebuchanan8431]

cool story brah. you also could have started your comment with "this is a big deal."

[@gisall8205]

@@SabrinaHill Try your piloting skills over the "flat" ocean for a few hundred miles while flying a few feet from the surface of the water. No free ridge lift down there.

[@EleanorPeterson]

Yep. Flight's fascinating. When I was little I remember asking my dad if he would help me make a bubble-blowing toy [the little wire hoop dipped into a solution of soapy water]. "Of course, Elli - you want to make some pretty bubbles, eh?" "No, I want to see the air with them." I couldn't explain what I meant at the time; what I meant was that I wanted to watch how the air currents affected them. (Yes, I was a weird child, and no, I didn't have many friends!😁) I'd spend hours with my binoculars, watching birds soaring. I made kites [and still do], and flew several at once at different heights to see how the wind varied. I'd launch paper aeroplanes from bridges, buildings, and steep hills just to watch how the air moved them. I became a keen aeromodeller, building all sorts of balsa and tissue planes and gliders - first just free-flight; then magnet-guided slope-soaring gliders; then bigger, heavier radio-controlled aircraft. I couldn't get enough of flying. I eventually got into full-sized soaring, and took up gliding. Thermal soaring was everything I'd dreamed it would be; it was amazing to feel the forces keeping me aloft. I'd read that George Cayley made the first man-carrying glider in 1853, and I wondered if he'd been looking for the same thing that I was. Thermal soaring was probably the nearest I could get to the albatross experience. Although I went on to get my PPL (in a Cessna 172), it wasn'r really what I wanted. Somehow, smashing the air aside and zooming around missed the point. I wanted to be part of the atmosphere. I was still absorbed with visualising air currents. Birds can sense them, feel them, and that was what intrigued me. I've gone back to making free-flight models, now. The recent introduction of 'drone laws', unfair taxes, exams and pilot registration has ruined the radio-controlled aircraft hobby for me, so I'm back with kites, balsa wood, tissue and imagination. I think in another hundred years or so I'll be just about starting to get the hang of things.🙂

[@rcbif101]

No mention of the reduced drag in ground effect near the water letting them build up even more speed.

[@weatheranddarkness]

It's not reduced drag but an improved lift to drag ratio, which means they don't lose as much altitude in the low speed portion of the cycle as they would otherwise

[@FlyNAA]

Rcbif, yes but it's a 2 and a half minute hot take on a topic where the rabbit hole goes quite deep... weatheranddarkness, improved L/D where L is constant (meaning, the same was what it would have been otherwise, whether performing the same turn, or holding the plane aloft in cruising flight, etc.), is effectively a reduction in D.

[@weatheranddarkness]

@@FlyNAA I'd argue that since the load is constant (the bird's weight/mass) that, no those aren't interchangeable. Actually, i'd also suggest that the bird is unlikely to see much ground effect really anyway and this is almost moot. The rule of thumb is that ground effect for a lifting wing starts to come into effect at about one wingspan altitude. I will concede that due to the changes in the flow structure once you get down around 20% span the induced drag the wing sees from generating lift actually does go down.

[@FlyNAA]

@@weatheranddarkness it's *because* the load is constant, that improved L/D ratio results in a drag reduction. To simplify the problem, consider an airplane in level flight. It's in some steady starting condition, then something changes to increase the L/D. (Say, a flap reduction). L will remain unchanged (otherwise the flight wouldn't be level any more), therefore D must reduce to satisfy the new ratio. As a separate point, I agree with you that ground effect is probably insignificant to the albatross in the high banked turn, which puts most of the wing outside the usable distance. And the vector direction is wrong, to boot.

[@alterI4]

Wtf why is that albatross flying a plane!! Im dying 😂😂😂

[@TheFerretofEarth]

it's a drone tho dun dun dun

[@navagharkiran5769]

So that you dumb can comment here

[@brucejacquesStick]

I 've had them follow my ship deep sea in storms, has to seen to be believed in bad weather, they dont even feel it.

[@MultiPleaser]

And don't forget the added benefit of 70% less drag using ground effect. That's where you fly less than one wing width above the ground or water.

[@SamwiseGamgy47]

I’ve been surfing for 40 years. Those birds are ALSO obviously gaining energy from the ocean swells similar to the way pelicans “surf” waves near shore. I’ve witnessed it hundreds of times.

[@Fiercefighter2]

This is a gem

[@FlipNasty1]

She has a great sense of humor

[@aziznormuminov745]

Who taught them how to use the dynamic flight?

[@IndoonaOceans]

I think in simple terms the albatross is making use of those speed differences in the wind at various altitudes. Ideally it would always want the lift from a strong headwind, and would always head into it, but of course it needs to fly in other directions too to find food etc. and although it had lift would not make ground by heading into the wind all the time. Going downwind it starts to fall - although faster in flight because now pushed by the wind. The low or near zero wind at the water surface allows it to make an easy turn and head back up into the wind with lift giving increased altitude. Shearwaters seem to make lower and more continuous flights to the water than albatross but I guess doing the same thing? It's tacking in three dimensions.

[@coreyfisher2542]

That's exactly how I fly when I'm dreaming, but I seem to pull it off going straight.

[@ruirodtube]

Basically the Albatross uses his wings like a sail to collect the wind’s kinetic energy and transform it into potential energy (altitude), then transform the potential energy into kinetic energy by descending which allows it to advance against the slower shallow wind and start all over.

[@davleigh]

Wrong!

[@MrJdsenior]

He's right, read my description above if you actually care.

[@ot8479]

@@davleigh were you just in opposite defiant mode that day!? I get like that too sometimes, I recognize the footprint 🤦🏽🤣

[@rhondapatterson2037]

Awesome illustration

[@mohamedmahfouz1813]

Great explanation

[@samratpaul25]

Some more of Natures Excellence which we are yet to copy.

[@deefstes]

This video starts with "The Wandering Albatross can spend weeks at sea without ever returning to land". There's an understatement if ever I've heard one. Try "years". When these birds fledge they spend 6 to 7 YEARS at sea before they return to land again for the first time. Nice touch at the end of the video though :-D

[@marshmallow1488]

Dewald Swanepoel how do they sleep?

[@Froggability]

Marsh Mallow. Apparently sleep on the wing, half a brain at a time

[@jamessparkman6604]

Looks like If Bernard and Bianca want to go on any future rescue missions This species will have to make a come back because Wilbur and Orville from the rescuers and the rescuers down Under happen to be the wandering albatross just wanted to let you know that

[@RelativeStrengthFit]

Thank you. Educational!

[@kevinbrooks2977]

The albatross in the glider at the end killed me

[@prototropo]

It's not really about extracting power from the wind's own energy, but exploiting parabolic geometry over a gradient of variable space.

[@palootto4021]

Awesome videography and good explanation of the mechanics of the flight pattern of the albatross.

[@catherinebreitfeller669]

This is one awesome bird

[@petehendrics653]

Hey Guys great video and nice animations. However in my eyes the explanation is not entirely correct. I think Dynamic Soaring is characterized by the gain of kinetic energy when a bird or plane crosses an aerea of shared wind in a way that the relative airspeed of the bird increases. Every time a bird choses an up wind flight direction, it gains energy by increasing head wind. This applies as well when the Albatross is in decent direction downways. But the upwind direction of course is more beneficial regarding the energy balance. In summary the moments the Albatross gains energy are the flight phases strait into the wind and strait down into the lower and slower wind areas. Whlie the energy loss ocsurs in both curves (yes also the upwind curve does have a negative engergy balance). Best P.

[@MrJdsenior]

Actually, go look up dynamic soaring with RC gliders, they reach speeds of almost 400 mph with NO engine using dynamic soaring from "hill" or mountain shaded areas. The energy ACTUALLY increases when the glider pops up over the hill into the wind, as a direct increase in the air (not ground) speed caused by the wind, as you said. On the high side turn back out of the wind, it then gets ANOTHER equivalent wind speed assist with respect to the "stationary" air behind the hill, this time the ground speed goes up DRAMATICALLY, like almost 2X the wind speed with a highly efficient L/D aircraft. It takes a while to get it right in your head, but it is the reality, and can be measured directly in the almost 2Xwind (minus drag for this half of the turn) speed increase during each "high side" portion of the tilted almost constant radius turn. Look it up, you will be absolutely AMAZED how fast those things are going. The albatross is doing the same thing, but with wind gradient rather than a hill shading effect, which is actually flow separation behind the hill (that's what caused horizontal rotor downwind of the mountain). The one problem I have with your explanation, if I'm reading it right, is the "energy balance, as you put it, CANNOT be a loss on both sides, in total, or the plane would SLOW DOWN, not speed up. There obviously ARE energy losses all around due to drag, but the TOTAL for the circle HAS TO BE positive for the aircraft to GAIN energy, which it obviously does, as it goes faster and faster to the point where it is going a significant portion of the speed of a commercial airliner, again, NO engine. ;-)

[@ian9toes]

The video got it wrong, the bird gains just as much airspeed on the downwind portion as it does on upwind portion.

[@Tsamokie]

02:21 "...and far further..." That is the improper use of further (to advance something). The correct word is farther ( to a greater distance). and far farther*

[@carlcushmanhybels8159]

Understand and thanks for showing. A complexity not mentioned: The albatross relies on winds on the circumpolar ocean (southern hemisphere, south of continents: Winds whip around the globe). Winds are not so strongly and consistently like that elsewhere. =Drones and planes would have great difficulty/ limited use for this technique. And there's little to bomb except water over the circumpolar ocean, haha,.

[@jeffthompson8843]

Might work well for naval drones in certain regions where these winds exist.

[@DashDrones]

I'm pretty high and instantly understood this...

[@lukebuchanan8431]

join the bus

[@dylongoodyear7718]

@@lukebuchanan8431 short bus

[@firstbornbirdman]

totally awesome!! thanks for post!

[@markusmuller6173]

just cool :)

[@orojasp]

Great vid! Kindly regards from an electronic pal!

[@Zorxeng1990]

0:56

[@callimachust1474]

Concise 👍

[@frunomaol5069]

I don't understand. At 1:03, you say "it" rises. What is the the "it", that rises? If you mean the wind, then the sentence runs something like; ~ the wind rises with the wind ~. I get the general idea of what the bird is doing, and the graphics are good, I just question the text at 1:03! Thanks.

[@scarysara9364]

Welcome to 'Albatross Airline' . : )

[@chercherry]

i love this bird

[@crapisnice]

it appears a combination of upwind lift, downwind gravitational kinetic descend and WIG wing on ground recuperation cycle

[@SEThatered]

You mean military drones. However "drones" is an umbrella term to all sorts of unmanned robots. It can be a cartography drones, cargo drones, weather drones, forest fire surveillance drones etc. etc. I recon the forest fire surveillance drone would be the one benefiting the most as it would be the best if it ould stay in the sky indefinitely long (as it is today cameras on elevated locations are implied and drones fly only if such camera spot smoke, but such system is far from perfect.)

[@user-lz9ei5zn2z]

凄い勇姿。アルバトロスの魅力。

[@moriwaki1105]

When I die.....I will hope and pray with all my might to be an Albatross in another Life.

[@LBG-cf8gu]

Great presentation! Thanks for the upload. Does the pilot, Andy Albatross have a sailplane rating? lol

[@PatHaskell]

If you think this is interesting you should watch BTD10: The 835kph Sailplane and Dynamic Soaring!!!!

[@juliasmith5267]

cool video. 👍

[@stephanieparker5049]

Science can be fun❤️❤️❤️❤️The Albatross thanks✌️

[@umvhu]

No mention of wing in ground effect providing more energy for free.

[@mdtalhaansari1096]

So perpetual motion is impossible but not perpetual flight? Strange world!

[@sanju3871]

how does it spend weeks at sea awake?

[@Gottenhimfella]

It alternates sleeping with one side of the brain, then the other, IIRC

[@noapology88]

Albatrosses rule!

[@razvaz]

Don't they need to sleep though?

[@mitseraffej5812]

The big question is how do individual birds learn to do this? Are they taught by their parents or is the knowledge innate, and if so what is the mechanism that embeds such knowledge?

[@ot8479]

This is passed on to young birds with exercises. Albatrosses have to work hard to learn how to fly, save energy, and never land on places where they would be trapped by lack of cliffs. Theirs is the largest wingspan in the animal kingdom, they can't take off from the ground. Their abilities are breathtaking, but contrary to birds with limited physical abilities like seagulls, they must refine their skills because they cover the entire planet twice in their lifetime.

[@mitseraffej5812]

@@ot8479 I spend many hours in my boat fishing off the West Coast of new Zealand. I am often visited by juvenile albatross that alight on the water, but only when there is enough wind that they can get airborne again. One time when I was out surfing on a very calm evening a shag splashed into the water near me to get a fish. While a shag does not have the same wingspan as an albatross it is still a large bird. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to fly the shag waited for a big set wave to approach, paddled with its feet and literally started surfing down the face of the wave, opening its wings just as the lip of the wave pitched out over its entire body and flew out of the barreling wave. This was one of my most memorable sight from near 5 decades of surfing and to this day I still wonder how it would have gained the knowledge to perform such a feat.

[@allen.in.challengeofficial8749]

Someone seriously needs to make a good movie about albatrosses. Perhaps an underdog plot where an albatross who can't fly learns how and becomes the best would be great.

[@FlyNAA]

Jonathan Livingston Albatross?

[@poppetrurazvan3900]

By using passive ultrasond emanation of a earth crust or spce you will obtain some kind of heating device that will store in the salt cristals all the energy necessary. The rest in a mater of dynamic combination. With my best regards.

[@Dragon029]

Well there isn't really any practical use for this system in manned flight; it's efficient, but it's slow, and impractical for aircraft of larger sizes, which have to be continuously maneuvering at very low altitudes.

[@nintendork0943]

Jesus, check that out at 0:31! I never realized how big they were until I saw them next to a person. Fucking wild.

[@duncanidaho2130]

Caught the humor pretty quick. LOL!

[@demo2382]

How long do they stay in the air before floating on the see to rest? Even though the wings rarely flap, they still gotta get tire for being fully extended.

[@stock9291]

You'd think so, but nope. They have this shoulder lock thing which enables them to keep their wing spread with their muscles relaxed. Fun fact of the day.

[@Ag-xx5qq]

lmao the end hahahaha that's cute

[@niamhoconnor8986]

Descend for speed - use speed and wind to get ascend - repeat process?

[@Statek63]

It is not as simple and would not work without the wind shear.

[@Creedbunman65]

What if there's no wind.

[@G_Cs]

An albatross can fly like other birds with its wings but it would not be able to keep it up for long periods of time. Where the albatross lives, the winds are abundant year round, which is why the albatross lives and flies there.

[@dylongoodyear7718]

i think it is p obvious what is happening, the bird is wave soaring the same way glider pilots do, you can see it clear as day in the vid, each wave produces a small rising current of lift as the wind hits it, the bird rises with this then dips in between each consecutive wave, as there is no longer that rising current, until the next wave...rinse and repeat 1000s km

[@wun1gee]

We already can. I've been flying dynamic slope soaring for 20 years. It's hardly a mystery.

[@user-do5zk6jh1k]

This is different. This is turning horizontal wind into vertical energy using your wings over flat terrain.

[@Froggability]

Slope soaring is different to dynamic soaring

[@OmarExplains]

google earth day? yeah me too..

[@Forsage237]

Albatross's can put half of it's brain asleep, and alternate sleep from one side of the brain to the other while in flight for days, months

[@Froggability]

That's amazing!

[@getreal3336]

Fly further on less fuel but takes forever to get from point A to point B.

[@starthrower7535]

Good to study the secrets of this magnificent bird, but we must be careful not to exploit it only for what it can provide in technological progress for man. It is a wondrous creature, many species of which are endangered due to commercial fishing and other habitat threats. Great to celebrate its adaptations, though.

[@MrJdsenior]

WT Heck, how does learning from it's flight EXPLOIT it? I do agree with the sentiment, though.

[@readread8601]

Coastal Redwood next

[@Bobcat8188]

Wtf, precise high res what? Is that a peso?

[@areshy4787]

That's one high resolution data.

[@DjSharperimage]

Dynamic Soaring? Why don't they just call it "Wind Surfing"?

[@MrJdsenior]

It's a little different, but there definitely are similarities.

[@FlyNAA]

It's a variation on simply "soaring," a more basic mode of flight of gliders and birds staying aloft without flapping, which is descending through upward air currents that are rising faster than the aircraft's descent through them (for a net result of the aircraft maintaining altitude or even climbing.) Typically thermals and ridge lift. In dynamic soaring (instead of plain old soaring) there is no rising air, only variance in the horizontal speed of air at different heights.

[@SEThatered]

Whether you like it or not, military is the first who would pay generously for this kind of technology. After all it might be something we could not replicate as our technologies may be not advanced enough, - so this risk alone is enough to scare all commercial clients away, leaving only military interested.

[@SladkaPritomnost]

Another mystery is why Albatross has no vertical and horizontal stab....

[@TedRobotBuilder]

But drones need to be high altitude.

[@NU-ph1zx]

Jet stream

[@G_Cs]

>"But drones need to be high altitude." No, because there many types of flying drones. Some never need to get very far from the Earth's surface. Drones used to photograph ground property and buildings don't need to be very high at all. At high altitudes, they would lose the quality of the image (or video) they were made or used for. Delivery drone do not need to be very high either, depending on the distance from source to delivery address. Of all the different types of drones, only one of them is an "Unmanned combat aerial vehicle, an armed UAV." Typically, they need to be at high altitude, but using drone is if it pertains to only this one type of drone is incorrect.

[@michaelo3599]

nice birb

[@riforgiate74]

They say drone, but then show a glider with a pilot.

[@imranq9241]

technically its still un-man-ned flight

[@JuanSanchez-ik7wx]

whatever happened to the first law of thermodynamics

[@FlyNAA]

Energy is extracted from the differential wind speed at different heights. Much like a sailboat extracting energy from the differential motion between air and water, or a wind turbine extracting energy from the differential motion between and ground.

[@Froggability]

Albatros' don't believe in science!!

[@bethanalpha4544]

gliding albatross piloting a glider...If they catch onto that we're doomed

[@noahpalmieri941]

People have used this concept to fly motorless RC gliders at speeds of over 500 mph

[@zwarst]

a good report until the mention of drones...

[@Ed-Topo-108]

Just cruising...

[@roidroid]

Whoops

[@ponzo1967]

COC ,🤘

[@battshytkrazy156]

BADASS 😮🎉

[@kaleemullah247]

Who else came here from today's doodle?

[@hollycampbell1746]

This girl filmin being like: I'M SO FAR AWAY FROM SEA I CAN SEE AND ALBOTRAOZ! Like I would be scaref

[@spongebobskate]

Interesting that the albatross has no tail for stability... it's basically a flying wing

[@ot8479]

They have the largest wingspan on earth, don't need it basically... and because of their incredible abilities they make us dream!

[@fabolousnature3873]

Anyone beleive that albatross inspired stuka dive bomber

[@commonsense308]

the albatross knows

[@thevintagehifiambassador8524]

who else got here after the radio controlled airplane guinesss record flight :-)

[@rjw7058]

Hi, you are 8 yrs into the future. no one understands the benefit of this. Can you design a sea faring vessel, kinda like water world, but maybe a bit higher tech?, that uses the sail to be like the albatross? they are descendents of Argentavis ^^^T)))

[@manuscaria922]

Commander Abhilash Tomyde ചരിത്രം എന്നിലൂടെ കണ്ട് ഇവിടെ വന്നവർ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ ... സലാം...

[@umerwarraich5657]

that bird in plane at last of video is a paid actor......lol

[@muhammadfaizul5506]

أَوَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ إِلَى ٱلطَّيۡرِ فَوۡقَهُمۡ صَٰٓفَّٰتٖ وَيَقۡبِضۡنَۚ مَا يُمۡسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُۚ إِنَّهُۥ بِكُلِّ شَيۡءِۭ بَصِيرٌ (Sahih International) Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing. -Sura Al-Mulk, Ayah 19

[@selman7766]

SUBHANALLAH

[@chi-salin4127]

👥 Can't learn their born with natural flying ability in the 🌀 ~that's 🐥s' gift~~

[@Vanished_Mostly]

Your channel name reminds me of Garfield screaming.

[@poppetrurazvan3900]

Mindy.

[@AliHamza-hw5rs]

That's not flying, that's falling with action.

[@heavyrain5949]

Noice toy story reference

[@nonotdrschwa5677]

*style

[@petersellers9219]

The future is drones, the present is drones... God help us

[@indiana146]

I watch buzzardz in summer riding the thermals