Ocean energy

The sun beat down on the Delaware Bay as the water slowly engulfed an eight-foot-tall power source that could change the game for ocean research.

When it finally disappeared under the water shortly after noon, it left two blue floating airbags in its wake. Jennifer Biddle breathed a sigh of relief.

"Our fingers were significantly crossed," said Biddle, University of Delaware Mary A.S. Lighthipe Professor in the School of Marine Science and Policy. "I was certainly holding my breath waiting for it to sink."

This giant device was the product of a $7.8 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense. Scientists call the device a Persistent Oceanographic Device Power (PODPower) system.

University of Delaware researchers teamed up with University of Maryland, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Oregon State University and Battelle to sink the PODPower to the bottom of the bay earlier this month. After divers released the airbags, the device sank about 15 feet deep. The team will monitor the system and extract it from the bay once a test run is complete.