The Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) was one of the most innovative oceanographic research tools ever invented. Over the course of its service life spanning more than 50 years, the baseball bat-shaped platform exemplified the ingenuity of scientists and engineers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
On Aug. 3, however, FLIP's distinguished career finished its final chapter when it was towed to a dismantling and recycling facility, six years after its last research voyage and three years after reviewers determined that the costs to renovate it could not be justified.
“R/P FLIP has existed for more than half the length of the institution’s entire history,” said Scripps Oceanography Director Margaret Leinen. “It was an engineering marvel constructed during an important phase of new technology for ocean exploration following World War II. The many discoveries from FLIP help set the stage for ongoing cutting-edge science to understand our ocean.”
Over the decades, FLIP became an example of innovation at the institution, with its unprecedented design helping to advance society’s understanding of ocean currents, ocean acoustics, air-sea interactions, marine mammals and more. It inspired millions of school-age children, routinely appearing in grade school textbooks used in schools throughout the U.S.
Read more at University of California - San Diego
Image: FLIP during a 2016 research cruise. (Photo Credit: San Nguyen via University of California - San Diego)