LONDON — Boaty McBoatface is back, but this time it’s serious.

The high-tech remotely operated yellow submarine, bearing a name that began as a joke, will begin its first mission this week through a deep current that starts in Antarctica and goes through the Southern Ocean.

Boaty will navigate through underwater waterfalls and rapids on a two-month mission, collecting data to help scientists understand how global warming affects oceans. It will depart on Friday aboard the James Clark Ross, a British polar research ship, from Punta Arenas, Chile, and will head to the Southern Ocean.

The scientists involved can only hope that Boaty McBoatface will find something that draws as much attention to climate change as the odd story of how the vessel got its name.

That story started a year ago, when the Natural Environment Research Council, a British government agency, opened a public campaign to name a ship to replace the James Clark Ross.