Station 46012, located approximately 10 nautical miles offshore, is part of NOAA’s Coastal Weather Buoy network. The USV deployment is intended to maintain continuous data coverage during buoy maintenance or service periods and to assess the performance of uncrewed systems in supporting operational data collection.

NOAA contracted with @Orchard, LLC, supported by subcontractor Open Ocean Robotics, Inc., to plan and manage deployment of the DataXplorer USV. The USV is collecting hourly observations of wind, air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, sea surface temperature, and wave conditions during a planned 327-day deployment window. Data are transmitted in near real-time, quality controlled by NDBC, and disseminated through NDBC’s popular website and the National Weather Service’s Global Telecommunications System to forecasters, mariners, emergency managers, researchers, and decision-makers worldwide.

“Foundational to NOAA’s mission of safeguarding the nation’s life and property are precise, in-situ weather and ocean observations,” said Dr. William Burnett, Director of NOAA’s NDBC. “Working with @Orchard to integrate autonomous USVs allows NDBC to scale its reach, capturing vital observations from the most remote and data sparse reaches in our oceans.”

The USV is being evaluated against NOAA’s established buoy data standards to assess whether uncrewed systems can meet required availability, accuracy, and timeliness benchmarks for operational use. This assessment will inform future decisions regarding the integration of uncrewed platforms within NOAA’s observing network.

The solar-recharged, all-electric USV operates without combustion emissions while on station and may reduce the need for vessel servicing transits associated with traditional moored buoys. Operations are conducted in coordination with sanctuary managers and NOAA technical teams.

“This partnership allows NDBC to continue to provide reliable observations from advanced technology, such as the DataXplorer USVs, while being conscious of potential impacts to the marine sanctuary. Continuing to provide these observations ensures that the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters and central California coastal community have the data that they need,” said Dawn Petraitis, NDBC Senior Data Manager and Technical Task Monitor.

@Orchard, LLC, as prime contractor, is responsible for mission execution, operational coordination, data QA/QC and handling, and required reporting in coordination with NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and NDBC staff.

“@Orchard is supporting NOAA’s mission through deployment of uncrewed systems in coordination with NOAA technical teams, with a focus on meeting established data quality requirements,” said Tiffany Nguyen-Eastman, CEO of @Orchard, LLC.

Data collected during the deployment will support ongoing severe weather forecasting, marine navigation safety, ecosystem monitoring, coastal modeling, and climate research. By supporting observations at Station 46012 with a USV, NOAA is working to maintain the availability of important environmental data used by coastal communities, maritime industries, and the scientific community.

Insights from this deployment will help inform NOAA’s broader observing system modernization efforts and its evaluation of low-impact, uncrewed technologies for future coastal and offshore observing operations.

This work is supported by the NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations Uncrewed Systems Operations Center.