USING UNMANNED SURFACE VEHICLES
TO ENHANCE OCEAN OBSERVATION George Galdorisi, Director of Strategic Assessments and Technical Futures at the U.S. Navy’s Command and Control Center of Excellence
PERSPECTIVE As readers of ROV Planet know, it is the oceans that sustain the planet. There is compelling evidence that the world’s oceans are under increasing stress and that we must find a sustainable solution to protect them. An essential element of doing so is making data-driven decisions as to what steps to take to sustain the 70% of the planet covered by water.
face vessels, or USVs. While there have been some tentative attempts to employ USVs to collect such data, there have been few comprehensive evaluations of such a capability – until now.
A UNIFIED EFFORT TO COLLECT OCEANIC DATA
Making these data-driven decisions depends on collecting the right data, at the right place, at the right time. This is not a trivial undertaking. Strong anecdotal evidence suggests that where those with stewardship for various aspects of ocean sustainment cannot find an affordable way to collect this data, it will simply not be obtained. These gaps lead to an incomplete picture of the ocean’s health, and with it, suboptimal solutions to achieving long-term ocean sustainment.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Navy have formed a partnership to obtain and utilize unmanned maritime systems and to codify the policies that govern their operations. A recent article in the maritime journal, Ocean News & Technology entitled, “NOAA, U.S. Navy Will Increase Nation’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Operations,” described this cooperation and highlighted the importance of ocean observation from both an environmental, as well as a national security, perspective.
Some time ago, the failure to accurately assess bathymetric, hydrographic, temperature, current, wind, salinity and other ocean conditions could be forgiven, as there simply were not affordable ways to do so. But today there are, with unmanned maritime vehicles of various types, especially unmanned sur-
The article pointed out that these two major oceans stakeholders, NOAA and the U.S. Navy, have signed a new agreement to jointly expand the development, acquisition, fielding and operations of unmanned maritime systems in the nation’s coastal waters as well as in world’s ocean waters.
(Photo: Jack Rowley)
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