Lagrangian Instruments in Support of ONR Activities in the North Atlantic and in the Western Pacific/South China Sea
Abstract
The US Navy s Office of Naval Research, Code 322, is sponsoring two new initiatives to improve the prediction of the thermohaline st ructure of the ocean in the western Pacific Ocean and in the north Atlantic Ocean. The end goal of both efforts is to conduct resear ch on improving the Navys ocean prediction models and of acoustic propagation predictions. Therefore, there is a pressing need foro bservations that cover large areas expeditiously and measure critical surface properties of the ocean that reflect its thermohaline structure and its variability. Autonomous drifting buoys are proven tools that have been used for decades to collect observations i n remote areas that require sustained sampling and are hard to reach due to logistic constraints or because of severe weather occurr ences that prevent the deployment of more traditional shipborne sampling methods.The Lagrangian Drifting Laboratory of the Scripps I nstitution of Oceanography (SIO) is the leading center for conducting scientific research with Lagrangian drifters and for the desig n of innovative, fit-for-purpose autonomous drifting instruments.This proposal seeks support to fabricate a fleet of specialized dri fters capable of sensing fundamental physical variables at the air-sea interface to address the problem at hand, including near-surf ace currents, sea surface temperature, waves, wind, rain, atmospheric pressure and salinity, concurrently with recording of ambientn oise. Such autonomous drifting instruments will form a network of sensors that will use machine learning algorithms specifically tra ined to optimize unmanned collection of critical data.Building on our successful approach used in several recent ONR funded projects . in which arrays of wave gliders, sea gliders and drifters were operated remotely, an SV3 wave glider by Liquid Robotics will be im bedded in the proposed arrays of autonomous drifters to collect additional important meteorological (wind, air pressure, air relativ e humidity) and oceanographic (subsurface temperature and salinity, currents) observations.Abstract is Publicly Releasable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 22, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112913
Entities
People
- Luca Centurioni
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego