MISSION: WATER 40 INTERNATIONAL WATERS The Sailbuoy continuously measures water quality parameters. Data goes to shore via satellite, and is used by research institutes in Norway to increase the understanding of the local ecosystems. Can you speak to the scope of the GLIDER project and the formation of this ocean monitoring network? Inger: Sure! The project consists of multiple phases.The first phase took place in 2017 and served as a proving ground for the technology with a three month ocean deployment.The second phase is ongoing. In the initial testing, we used a total of three vehicles running continuously to make transects in the areas of interest.We were able to guide them remotely and collected an enormous amount of data – far more than what you would see from a typical research cruise. It was incredibly valuable information for understanding such a complex ecosystem. With that said, the results from the first phase were operationally focused.We were determining what types of data we could collect autonomously, the quality of that data, and quantity.Then we worked through the biggest question – how do we actually make these data available for scientists? We also needed to confirm these autonomous vehicles could handle months of brutal ocean conditions. Our main partner – Offshore Sensing, a Bergen-based company – had several years of experience developing the Sailbuoy technology to what it is today.They drop tested it from 15 meters high and rammed it several times with large ships to ensure it would hold up. So overall, in these phases of the project we're more on the operational side and making the initial data available for research purposes.We're basically setting up the outline for years of work to come. How did Aanderaa join the GLIDER Project team? Inger: The team at Aanderaa was working with a couple of business partners to look into autonomous vehicles for monitoring ocean conditions. Our main partner was Offshore Sensing AS in charge of the Sailbuoy.We were integrating Aanderaa sensors with their unmanned sailboat, hoping to build a platform capable of continuously measuring water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, salinity, pH, CO2, and more. At the same time, ConocoPhillips was looking to assemble a consortium to move beyond single autonomous vessel missions. They were looking to enable a multi-vessel capability and data delivery system.The Aanderaa and Offshore Sensing team were asked to join this consortium along with key players in the autonomous space, such as Kongsberg Maritime and Maritime Robotics. Renowned institutions like Christian Michelsen Research, the Arctic University of Norway, Nord University and NIVA were also brought onboard.The project was headed by Akvaplan NIVA. The consortium applied for funds from the Norwegian Research Council to support a study reviewing the ecological health of the Norwegian shelf in Vestfjorden and outside the Lofoten and Vesterålen Islands.Their request was granted and supported financially through the agency’s DEMO2000 program – which aides companies in Norway that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or contribute to improvements to health, safety or the environment. And together, we are able to utilize three different autonomous vessels to map the ecosystem off the Norwegian continental shelf.These vessels are called the Sailbuoy, the Waveglider, and the Seaglider. Each vessel has underlying data systems to facilitate data collection and analyses to help us better understand what’s impacting the environment.The goal is to gauge what we see in terms of variation in oceanographic parameters and analyze the impact on the amount of cod and mammals in these areas year-over-year.