The U.S. Marine Corps has used aircraft-deployed, sensor-equipped buoys to study and quantify elements of the sea as a warfighting zone.
MV-22 Osprey aircraft deployed cylindrical buoys during the recent Trident Warrior exercise to help the military service branch gain more warfighting insights about the sea and near-shore environments, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday.
The floating buoys descend to the ocean's depths to gather data then transmit findings to the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) after returning to the surface.
“Deployment of these floats creates a more vivid picture of how the ocean and atmosphere interact, including wind speed and water temperature and salinity,” said Scott Harper, a program officer in the Ocean Battlespace and Expeditionary Access Department within the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
NAVO will continue to receive the buoy-gathered data over a span of several months.
