Scientists from NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center have begun a second year of data collection for the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment in Hawai‘i with support of Wave Glider Uncrewed Surface Vehicles. Three Wave Gliders are circumnavigating the main Hawaiian Islands between one to four miles from shore while measuring surface and subsurface information on important ocean and atmospheric parameters.
Photo: David Schmidt
Scientists from U.S. and international institutions are collaborating to collect high precision data of tectonic plate movements in the Pacific. With bottom-mounted Sonardyne Fetch arrays and Wave Gliders at the surface, movements can be measured with 1 cm precision using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The University of Washington and Scripps Institution of Oceanography are conducting surveys off the U.S. West Coast to further investigate the Oregon Segment of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center is assessing the marine ecosystem health around the main Hawaiian Islands with the support of three Wave Gliders equipped with winches. While circumnavigating the islands in close proximity to the shoreline, chlorophyll-a data is being collected through automated, location-based winch casts multiple times per day.
Photo: NTT/OIST
Taking typhoon research to the next level: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have successfully conducted the world’s first simultaneous marine and atmospheric measurements directly beneath a Category 5 typhoon in the Western North Pacific—the strongest class of typhoons.
Graphic: KOPRI and KIOST
Next Stop Hawai‘i in 8,000 km: Researchers from the Korea Polar Research Institute and Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology had to get creative when Typhoon Merbok prevented them from recovering their Wave Glider in the Bering Sea. The Wave Glider was detoured to Hawai‘i and showcased its exceptional capability to go the distance.
Orion Space Solutions developed a novel camera system that collects images of the upper atmosphere ionosphere from the ocean surface. The Ocean Stabilized Ionospheric Remote Imaging Sensor (OSIRIS) was integrated onto the Wave Glider and recently launched for the first time. The system will help assess space weather dynamics, which affect Earth-based communications systems, power grids, and other crucial infrastructure.
Photo: Zumberge Lab, IGPP, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
To better understand the likelihood and risks of earthquakes and tsunamis in New Zealand, a team of researchers is keeping a close eye on the tectonic plate boundary where the Pacific plate ‘dives’ beneath the Australian plate. Through a combination of instruments moored to the seafloor and high precision antennas on the Wave Glider, subtle offshore plate movements can be cost-effectively monitored in multi-year studies.
Photo: NOAA, Permit #14682
Researchers gained important new insights into the humpback whale population(s) migrating to the Hawaiian archipelago. Equipped with acoustic sensors, Wave Glider Europa traveled over 2,600 nautical miles on a 67-day mission to record the presence of humpback whales in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Photo: Nicolas Winkler Photography, courtesy of the Ocean Tracking Network
For the past 10 years, the Ocean Tracking Network has used Wave Gliders to support its global aquatic animal tracking efforts. Snow crabs and more than 300 other commercially important and endangered species are being tagged with acoustic sensors to inform resource conservation and management. Wave Gliders are used to offload data from acoustic receiver arrays consisting of 250 stations moored to the ocean floor.
As part of the new Blue Economy Tech Center, Project ABLE promotes public-private partnerships for marine robotics helping to address questions relating to environmental and ecosystem monitoring, offshore wind energy, and climate change. Liquid Robotics participates in the cohort to accelerate the knowledge and use of autonomous systems along the U.S. East Coast.
Photo: Jim Thomson, APL-UW
A multi-disciplinary team of researchers is capturing the transition from summer sea ice retreat to autumn sea ice advance in the Arctic Ocean to help predict future sea ice formation. A fleet of four Wave Gliders is part of this 3-month mission to collect ocean surface measurements, as well as water column profiles to a depth of 150 m.
Photo: JCG
The Japan Coast Guard deployed fleets of Wave Gliders to create an unmanned ocean observation network to gather real-time ocean data to help them more effectively monitor Japan’s ocean environment and ensure the safety of those in and around the sea.