Marines Use Sensor Buoys to Better Understand Ocean Battlespace
Posted on December 28, 2020 by Seapower Staff
ARLINGTON, Va.—Flying several thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean, an air crew and a scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tossed cylindrical floats from a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft. Packed with data-gathering sensors to measure underwater conditions, the floats fell fast before orange parachutes opened to ease splashdown.
The action marked the first time such sensor-laden profiling floats, also called buoys, were deployed from a Marine Corps aircraft. This will increase naval knowledge of the ocean battlespace — including the littorals (areas of water close to shoreline), which are crucial to expeditionary and amphibious operations.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored the effort, which involved Woods Hole and the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) and occurred during this year’s Trident Warrior, a large-scale fleet exercise conducted by the Navy and Marine Corps to test technology and tactics.
NAVO collects global oceanographic and meteorological data to create ocean-prediction models to support naval operations.
https://seapowermagazine.org/marines-use-sensor-buoys-to-better-understand-ocean-battlespace/
