4.10: Uncrewed Aerial Platforms

Increasingly, scientists are turning to uncrewed aerial platforms—drones—remotely controlled flight-capable platforms outfitted with video cameras and various sensors. This category of platforms also includes remotely piloted aerial systems and multirotor copters (e.g., Klemas 2015; Nguyen et al. 2022). The use of drones and drone-based sensors in oceanographic research represents one of the most recent examples of how new technological developments can revolutionize a field (e.g., Gray et al. 2022).

One of the earliest uses of drones for oceanographic research was simply to follow whales and dolphins (Fiori et al. 2017). Images and video from drones have enabled scientists to map intertidal reefs (e.g., Murfitt et al. 2017), track discharge plumes of groundwater (Lee et al. 2016), survey the size and shape of beaches (Casella et al. 2020), and measure snow thickness on sea ice (Molar-Candanosa 2022).

A new generation of sensors—deployable on drones and aircraft—now permit oceanographers to measure a wide variety of ocean properties. Multispectral imagers detect several different wide bands of electromagnetic radiation (colors). Hyperspectral imagers detect hundreds of narrow bands of electromagnetic radiation. Both routinely fly aboard airborne platforms to monitor the environment (Stuart et al. 2019). Using a drone-based hyperspectral sensor, researchers were able to document the extent and concentration of a harmful algal bloom in two bays in southern China (Li et al. 2021).

Not all modern oceanographic measurements require cutting-edge platforms. Kites, outfitted with state-of-the-art cameras or sensors, serve many coastal applications. Kite aerial photography has been used to map the distribution of organisms in the rocky intertidal and near-coastal zone and to acquire high-resolution images of entire islands or beaches (Bryson et al. 2013).

Balloons play a role in oceanographic research too. During the 2018 Microbiology-Ocean-Cloud-Coupling in the High Arctic (MOCCHA) campaign, oceanographers deployed a tethered balloon to sample biologically generated aerosols and the properties of low clouds (Zinke et al. 2021). In the near future, scientists hope to deploy steerable stratospheric balloons, such as Stratollites. As big as a blue whale, these craft can maintain a position above Earth’s surface for several days (Good et al. 2018). Stratollites may be used to monitor storms, assist natural disaster efforts, and even remotely sense the ocean. By 2024 you’ll be able to ride 19 miles high above Earth in a Stratollite (World View 2023).

And while technically not an aerial platform, the newest tool for carrying oceanographic instruments over large swaths of the ocean involves a hybrid device called a saildrone. Part windsurfer, part oceanographic buoy, this uncrewed wind- and solar-powered device can stay at sea for months at a time. On a 60-day voyage from San Francisco to Guadalupe Island, a saildrone carrying 16 ocean and atmospheric sensors provided unprecedented data on key oceanographic and atmospheric processes (Gentemann et al. 2020). NOAA soon hopes to deploy fleets of saildrones to replace some of its aging buoys at a fraction of the cost (Voosen 2018). Of course, on windless days, saildrones might also make a nice resting spot for migrating seabirds or a peaceful place for a textbook-weary student to get away from it all.