Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, oceanographer and chief of the Naval Meterology and Oceanography Command, wrote in a blog post published Dec. 19 that the Navy transmits collected data from the Teledyne Webb-built undersea drones to the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for integration with NAVOCEANOâs ocean models.
NAVOCEANO has used a fleet of underwater drones since 2012 as part of the Navyâs Littoral Battlespace Sensing-Gliders program.
Six military oceanographic survey ships launch and recover the ocean gliders that are operated by staff at NAVOCEANOâs Glider Operation Center at Stennis Space Center.
âNAVOCEANO uses the data collected for numerical modeling of ocean conditions,â Gallaudet wrote.
âThese models improve with glider data, which we share with regional partners to help their understanding of the environment,â he added.
The Navy retrieved a week ago an underwater drone that Chinaâs naval forces seized on Dec. 15 in international waters around the South China Sea.