Northern Arabian Sea Circulation - autonomous research: Optimal Planning Systems (NASCar-OPS)
Abstract
Project Summary / Abstract Today, the number of autonomous platforms used in semi-coordinated sea operations can be larger than 10 and this number is increasing. This new paradigm in ocean science and operations calls for investigations as those envisioned by the Northern Arabian Sea Circulation – autonomous research (NASCar) initiative. The need for clever autonomous observing and prediction systems is especially acute in the NASCar region due to the frequent pirate activities and the paucity of recent in situ observations. As a result, the regional multiscale dynamics is not well understood. Our goals for the NASCar initiative are to apply our theory and schemes for rigorous optimal path planning and persistent ocean sampling with swarms of autonomous vehicles, and to further quantify the dynamics and variability of the circulation features and mixed layer, and the responses to monsoon winds, utilizing multi-resolution data-assimilative ocean modeling and process studies. We will apply our theory and schemes for rigorous optimal path planning and persistent ocean sampling with swarms of autonomous vehicles in the NASCar ocean region, utilizing inputs from our multi-resolution data-assimilative ocean modeling. We will employ and further develop our rigorous planning schemes for reachability studies and for specific optimality objectives (e.g. time, energy, swarm-formation, Lagrangian Coherent Structures or uncertainty optimal paths), to be selected in accord with the needs of the DRI. Our predicted optimal headings and relative operating speeds will be provided to the operational fleets of instruments and vehicles (e.g. gliders, drifters, floats or wave-gliders) during the sea campaigns. We plan to use or develop models specific to vehicle types (floats, wave-gliders, etc.) and utilize them. We also plan to further parallelize and optimize our planning codes, OSSE codes and adaptive sampling codes using distributed computing. We plan to complete numerical algorithms and efficient implementations of these codes for 3D in space and time-varying realistic ocean flows. We will also provide guidance for persistent optimal sampling. This will include data-driven modeling guidance for the design of optimal long-duration observation systems and for adaptive sampling during sea operations, using advanced Bayesian information theoretic approaches. In collaborations with the DRI team, we will further quantify the dynamics and variability of the circulation features and mixed layer, and the responses to monsoon winds. In accord with the known regional dynamics, we will set-up and apply our MSEAS systems for process-based modeling studies and dynamics analyses, and for realistic multi-resolution data-driven modeling of tidal-to-mesoscale processes in the region. The latter can include two-way implicit nesting, parameter tuning, data assimilation and data-model comparisons. We will contribute to the description and quantification of the processes involved in the variability of circulation features, transports, and mixed-layer properties, as well as of the effects of atmospheric forcing and of internal tides and long internal waves (if sufficiently resolved by observations). We plan to participate to real-time field campaigns, providing ocean forecasts, dynamics descriptions and sampling guidance. We expect to complete multiscale ocean re-analyses (using improved data processing, parameters, resolution, boundary and initial conditions), to be used for dynamics analyses. This will allow us to map the time and space variability in the region and to utilize term-by-term, flux balances, and Lagrangian analyses as needed. Finally, we plan to collaborate and transfer data, approaches, and algorithms to naval laboratories and other colleagues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512616
Entities
People
- Pierre Felix Lermusiaux
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy