A new paper from an international team of more than 50 researchers, including four from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, proposes the creation of a global observing network of AVs roving the ocean surface. Such a network of so-called uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) could transform how scientists understand the critical boundary layer where the ocean meets the atmosphere, ushering in improvements in weather forecasting, climate research and marine ecosystem monitoring.
The proposed network of USVs would be analogous to the Argo network of roughly 4,000 drifting robotic floats that are focused on collecting data from the ocean’s interior.
“Argo provides an incredible view of the ocean interior. Now we are trying to do that for the air-sea interface,” said Luc Lenain, co-author of the study and director of Scripps’ Air-Sea Interaction Research Laboratory. “We feel the technology is there and these vehicles are ready to make a huge contribution to science.”
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