NATO’s Science and Technology Organisation is partnering with Globalstar Europe Satellite Services (SGAT) for IoT System to monitor the oceans. The research focuses on the horizontal motion in the sea and on how surface properties are transported deeper into the water column. This will result to a understanding of changes in maritime characterisations such as temperature change, acoustic propagation, and the movement of biogeochemical properties (e.g.,phytoplankton) and pollutants such as plastic.
Namely, the research teams from NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), located in La Spezia, Italy, are re embedding low-cost SPOT Trace devices in freely drifting buoys and setting them afloat in the Mediterranean and in Arctic waters to monitor surface drift behaviour. SPOT Trace tracks the movement of these ‘drifters’ and transmits their position data over Globalstar’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network.
Moreover, CMRE conducts oceanography and ocean acoustics studies, part of innovative and field-tested Science & Technology (S&T) solutions to highlight defence and security needs of the NATO Alliance.
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The data resulting from the studies, enable CMRE to measure and understand sea currents.
NATO aspires to track large quantities of drifters, that is why SPOT Trace’s low device cost and affordable data charges were key factors in NATO’s procurement decision. Buoys are fitted with a tiny SPOT Trace device which includes an integrated GPS receiver, simplex transponder and motion sensor
In addition, NATO STO CMRE is conducting extra studies; one, is using SPOT Trace-equipped drifters to conduct oceanographic studies in the Alboran Sea in the Mediterranean, between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
CMRE’s own studies of drift movement in the seas of the Arctic will see buoys deployed in the Barent’s Sea, and further into Arctic waters, in Summer 2019.
Finally, according to Gary King, SPOT Regional Sales Manager EMEA at Globalstar, the maritime areas in the High North are a priority for oceanographic study and more research is crucial.
