US NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration deploys Oshen’s USVs for hurricane research
US NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, in partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi and with the robotics company Oshen, launched five small uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) C-Stars type in the waters off the US Virgin Islands on August 31st to collect critical data to better understand hurricane development and activity. The deployment is the latest effort by NOAA to advance data collection to improve hurricane research and forecasting. Two additional C-Stars are being stored in Gulfport, Mississippi, ready for launch ahead of actively developing storms in the Gulf this fall.
🎤 “Understanding weather conditions where the ocean surface meets the lower atmosphere is key to predicting hurricane intensity,” said Greg Foltz, oceanographer for NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). “If these miniature uncrewed surface vehicles prove reliable, they could become a critical piece of NOAA’s hurricane observing system in the future.”
Oshen mission specialists in the UK will remotely pilot the four-foot-long fiberglass USVs, which look like small sailboats, working with NOAA scientists at AOML in Miami and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle to position them ahead of hurricanes. They will operate experimentally over the next two months, transmitting near-real-time data which will be automatically received, processed and distributed by PMEL to the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Telecommunications System, making it available to forecast centers globally.
🎤 “We are excited by the role that C-Stars could play in improving hurricane forecasts, which have direct consequences for millions of people along the Gulf Coast,” said Leila J. Hamdan, Associate Vice President for Research, The University of Southern Mississippi, and professor in the School of Ocean Science and Engineering. “The University of Southern Mississippi is a natural partner for this effort as we bring deep expertise in autonomous systems and a history of collaboration with Oshen and NOAA. We’re excited to test new ways to gather critical data for NOAA’s mission.”
🎤 “Although C-Stars have navigated storms with towering 24-foot waves, hurricanes are a whole new level of challenge — but if it works, the long-term potential is huge,” said Anahita Laverack, the chief executive officer for Oshen. “We believe that these new, small USVs can move the needle in how we observe and understand hurricanes, while keeping budgets under control.”
📃📷 Source: NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
