The UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has been awarded £4 million (USD$5 million) to bring next-generation sensing capabilities to its marine autonomous systems fleet to advance sustainable ocean science.
The funding, from the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC’s) Future Marine Research Infrastructure (FMRI) program, will support three projects by leading scientists and engineers at NOC to develop advanced sensors targeting 10 different biogeochemical essential ocean variables, from physics to nutrients and carbon.
These will be integrated on to autonomous underwater vehicles such as gliders and NOC’s Autosub Long Range (ALR).
These advances will then be made available to the UK marine science community through the UK’s National Marine Equipment Pool as part of the National Marine Facilities, managed by NOC.
“By accelerating the adoption of sensor innovation, this investment will help to position the UK at the cutting-edge of marine research capabilities,” said Kristian Thaller, FMRI Programme Director. “It will ensure that UK marine science can meet society’s urgent need to observe, understand and predict changes in the ocean.”
The funding from NERC’s FMRI program supports its Accelerating Adoption of Sensor Innovation (AASI) initiative, which aims to show how innovation in marine sensor technology can be translated into deployable autonomous research capabilities.
“This investment underscores NOC’s position as a global leader in marine technology capability and innovation, accelerating the development and uptake of sensors with the capacity to transform marine science through the deep expertise in our Ocean Technology & Engineering group,” says Julie Robidart, who leads the group.
The funding will support three cutting-edge sensor development projects, the integration of these sensors into autonomous platforms, enhancing data management systems and targeting comprehensive validation trials by summer 2026.
