CHRIS MEINIG: And I'm going to bring Calvin up next for-- to talk about saildrone. 

[APPLAUSE] 

CALVIN MORDY: Hey I'm Cal Mordy, I am with JISAO. I run the nutrient program here and co-PI with the ITAE program with Chris [INAUDIBLE] and Jessica [INAUDIBLE]. Heather Tabisola is the [INAUDIBLE]. So you've seen some results from the saildrone, how I worked [COUGHING] this from a robotic platform including operational [INAUDIBLE] sort of public-private partnership between PMEL and Saildrone. And within [INAUDIBLE] largely led by the Arctic technology [INAUDIBLE] ITAE program.

So NOAA considers the Arctic to be everything north of the Aleutian Islands. It's a vast, remote and harsh environment, only ice-free for a limited amount of time each year. So this presents some unique challenges. The forecast [INAUDIBLE] have a lot of uncertainty. The ecosystem is undergoing rapid reorganization, changes in stratification, primary, secondary, [INAUDIBLE] fish distributions going further north. The impact of OA are yet to be determined. So how might a saildrone help to address some of these challenges? But about four times faster than other USVs. Has a large payload, and this enables it to conduct multidisciplinary studies, it has wind and power-- it's powered by wind and power so it can take the [INAUDIBLE] missions and it can be launched from the shore so it doesn't need ship support. 

So here's a track line from a 2017 fleet of saildrones, colored by salinity, leaving Dutch Harbor, going through Bering Strait and up into the Chukchi Sea, with one drone reaching 75 degrees North. So in 2014, Saildrone had successfully taken their autonomous robot and sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii, but it was not yet assigned to the [INAUDIBLE] At the same time PMEL was looking for surface platforms, looking at different surface platforms that might address some of these challenges in the Arctic. And seeing the potential for the saildrone, PMEL entered in the cooperative research and development [INAUDIBLE] CRADA with Saildrone [INAUDIBLE] 14th. So this is a-- show the schematic of the stepwise development of the saildrone. The CRADA signed in 2014 and 2015. Basic met and ocean sensors were integrated and we began our field trials. 

In the following years, changes were made to the platform, to the data portal. We advanced the data flow from email package to the stringent [INAUDIBLE] transfer. That's the yellow files. And in 2016 the integrated fishery acoustics and carbon sensor, so we could do OA surveys, and Saildrone began to augment the fisheries surveys from next door in the sea. In 2018, we added ACP and radiometer to the ocean current P-plus studies. Each year we did additional missions with validation against buoys, ships, and other drones. And these missions expanded from the Arctic to the tropics, down to the Antarctic and thereby increasing the readiness levels of the platform. 

So in five years we transitioned from this robotic instrument, kind of looks like a right flyer, into a operational interdisciplinary science platform, measuring numerous met and ocean parameters. And this is a remarkable achievement in five years. Largely the result of having the right partnership. 

So within the CRADA, PMEL provided the global observing and engineering experience. Saildrone has software and boat-building expertise. The role of PMEL was to identify and integrate sensors and sampling schemes as the platform was changed, and shaped then to make sure that sense of performance was not impeded, and also to make sure that the gold standard measurements would be made on the platform. 

What also made this a very fruitful partnership as Chris said, is that both sides were willing to risk [INAUDIBLE]. So underneath the CRADA, is really the story of a large collaboration of almost 100 different people and nine programs within PMEL. Multiple NOAA line offices, and numerous industry partners. 

We also communicate with Alaskan communities on science results and upcoming missions. So what are some of the outcomes? This is a successful partnership, because we have a community of practice, Saildrone is now expanded to about a fleet of 100 USVs. We now conduct more adaptive sampling for progression of goals. And we progress through the transition levels to operationalize a platform to the transition plan. [INAUDIBLE] 

One of the many outcomes, one that I want to highlight here, is a follow this leader mission that was done with the fish acoustics. Where the survey ship Oscar Dyson is following the saildrone. [INAUDIBLE] reported that the fish were diving in response to the noise-reduced Oscar Dyson, a survey vessel. And this changes our understanding of fish distributions through the water column.

So what began with studies of collecting data up in the Arctic has expanded for this partnership pull whole, with a lot of science in between, predominantly in fisheries, acoustics in the Arctic. And on the West Coast, and we're doing air-sea plus measurements from the Arctic to the Antarctic and this is all accomplished within five years, through this partnership.

[APPLAUSE]