CANBERRA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- A global network of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), led by Australian researchers, marks a major step forward in ocean data collection for climate and weather forecasting, maritime safety, and environmental monitoring.
A press release from Charles Darwin University (CDU) in Australia's Northern Territory said on Tuesday that the newly launched Surface Uncrewed Fleet (SUN Fleet) becomes the 17th observing network under the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), a partnership between UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the World Meteorological Organization.
This milestone is the result of four years of global collaboration between scientists, industry and governments, said the project's lead, Ruth Patterson, an oceanographer and research fellow at the CDU.
SUN Fleet will coordinate data collection from diverse USV platforms to deliver precise, real-time information critical to global food security, shipping, and weather prediction, according to Patterson.
USVs are autonomous, renewable-powered vessels capable of long-range travel and operating in harsh ocean conditions, the release said, adding that SUN Fleet is the first global initiative to unify their previously fragmented use into a coordinated data network.
"USVs will allow us to cost-effectively sample vast areas of the ocean where we simply don't have enough data," said Meghan Cronin, the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer and chair of the Observing Air-Sea Interaction Strategy.
"The true value of these observations for improving forecasts will come when their data from around the world can be fed into the operational models within minutes of being captured," Cronin said. ■
