The Defense Department has announced awards to five researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for projects that will help scientists characterize waves, improve ocean weather and climate prediction and analyze acoustics in the deep ocean.
Defense University Research Instrumentation Program grants support the development of instruments that have a wide range of military applications. The awards continue a history of collaboration between Scripps and the Navy that dates back immediately prior to World War II, when the Navy would charter Scripps’ sole research vessel.
Under the grants, Marine acoustics researcher Bill Hodgkiss will design and fabricate a two-dimensional, 256-element hydrophone array for use in the collection of midfrequency ambient noise and underwater acoustic propagation data in deep water.
Bruce Appelgate will install a scientific radar that makes precise real-time measurements of surface waves around the research vessel Sally Ride, which is currently under construction.
Researcher Eric Terrill received funds to support the Global Wave Buoy Array, comprising small, expendable drifter buoys equipped with GPS technology that measures the height, period and direction of ocean waves and reports these data back to Scripps via satellite.
Oceanographer Andrew Lucas received funds to develop the realtime telemetry capabilities of the Wirewalker wave-powered profiler. The Wirewalker traverses a vertical wire suspended beneath a surface float, propelled by the energy in ocean-surface waves. This system can profile a variety of ocean phenomena indefinitely.
Physical oceanographer Rob Pinkel received funds to significantly upgrade an existing Hydrographic Doppler Sonar System mounted on the hull of Scripps research vessel Roger Revelle.