Uncrewed surface vehicles in the Global Ocean Observing System: a new frontier for observing and monitoring at the air-sea interface

Observing air-sea interactions on a global scale is essential for improving Earth system forecasts. Yet these exchanges are challenging to quantify for a range of reasons, including extreme conditions, vast and remote under-sampled locations, requirements for a multitude of co-located variables, and the high variability of fluxes in space and time. Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) present a novel solution for measuring these crucial air-sea interactions at a global scale. Powered by renewable energy (e.g., wind and waves for propulsion, solar power for electronics), USVs have provided navigable and persistent observing capabilities over the past decade and a half. In our review of 200 USV datasets and 96 studies, we found USVs have observed a total of 33 variables spanning physical, biogeochemical, biological and ecological processes at the air-sea transition zone. We present a map showing the global proliferation of USV adoption for scientific ocean observing. This review, carried out under the auspices of the ‘Observing Air-Sea Interactions Strategy’ (OASIS), makes the case for a permanent USV network to complement the mature and emerging networks within the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The Observations Coordination Group (OCG) overseeing GOOS has identified ten attributes of an in-situ global network. Here, we discuss and evaluate the maturation of the USV network towards meeting these attributes. Our article forms the basis of a roadmap to formalise and guide the global USV community towards a novel and integrated ocean observing frontier.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers in Marine Science
Published
2025-03-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1523585
Citations
11
Primary Topic
Marine and coastal ecosystems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
19.73

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Uncrewed surface vehicles in the Global Ocean Observing System: a new frontier for observing and monitoring at the air-sea interface

Lars Robert Hole, Calvin W. Mordy, Clive R. McMahon, Makio C. Honda et al.
11 citations
Frontiers in Marine Science
Marine and coastal ecosystems
19.73
article

Uncrewed surface vehicles in the Global Ocean Observing System: a new frontier for observing and monitoring at the air-sea interface

Lars Robert Hole, Calvin W. Mordy, Clive R. McMahon, Makio C. Honda, Charles Izuma Addey, Laurent Grare, Elizabeth Siddle, Adrienne J. Sutton, P. K. Bhuyan, Sarah Nicholson, Chidong Zhang, Naoko Kosaka, Johan M. Edholm, Verena Hormann, Sarah T. Gille, Joana Beja, Satoshi Mitarai, Lev Looney, Virginie Ramasco, Mike Flanigan, Ruth G. Patterson, Jim Thomson, Meghan F. Cronin, Leandro Ponsoni, David Peddie, Akira Nagano, Lisan Yu, Kevin O’Brien, J. Alex Parker, Jaime B. Palter, Eugene Burger, Cheyenne Stienbarger, Brad de Young, Jeff E. Hansen, Jason McKenna, Wieter Boone, Dongxiao Zhang, Marcel du Plessis, Andreas Marouchos, Luc Lenain, Sebastiaan Swart, Justin Buck, Iwao Ueki, Sarah Nickford, Carey E. Kuhn, Catherine Kohlman, Noriko Tada, Gregory R. Foltz, Lionel Camus, James Burris, Elizabeth K. McGeorge, Nick Rozenauers
article en
11 citations

Abstract

Observing air-sea interactions on a global scale is essential for improving Earth system forecasts. Yet these exchanges are challenging to quantify for a range of reasons, including extreme conditions, vast and remote under-sampled locations, requirements for a multitude of co-located variables, and the high variability of fluxes in space and time. Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) present a novel solution for measuring these crucial air-sea interactions at a global scale. Powered by renewable energy (e.g., wind and waves for propulsion, solar power for electronics), USVs have provided navigable and persistent observing capabilities over the past decade and a half. In our review of 200 USV datasets and 96 studies, we found USVs have observed a total of 33 variables spanning physical, biogeochemical, biological and ecological processes at the air-sea transition zone. We present a map showing the global proliferation of USV adoption for scientific ocean observing. This review, carried out under the auspices of the ‘Observing Air-Sea Interactions Strategy’ (OASIS), makes the case for a permanent USV network to complement the mature and emerging networks within the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The Observations Coordination Group (OCG) overseeing GOOS has identified ten attributes of an in-situ global network. Here, we discuss and evaluate the maturation of the USV network towards meeting these attributes. Our article forms the basis of a roadmap to formalise and guide the global USV community towards a novel and integrated ocean observing frontier.

Frontiers in Marine ScienceVol. 12
University of East Anglia (GB), Flanders Marine Institute (BE), Memorial University of Newfoundland (CA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US), Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NO), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Seagate (United States) (US), University of Hawaii System (US), University of Connecticut (US), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (JP), University of Miami (US), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), University of Cape Town (ZA), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), University of Rhode Island (US), The University of Western Australia (AU), National Oceanography Centre (GB), University of Washington (US), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (ZA), NTT (Japan) (JP), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US), Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (US), NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories (US), Stennis Space Center (US), NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (US), Charles Darwin University (AU), University of California San Diego (US), Offshore Sensing (Norway) (NO), Integrated Marine Observing System (AU), Health Sciences and Nutrition (AU), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center (US), Akvaplan-niva (NO), University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (US), Sydney Institute of Marine Science (AU), University of Southern Mississippi (US), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US), Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (US), University of Gothenburg (SE)
Sight Research UK, Natural Environment Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Marine and coastal ecosystems
19.73
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.