
As we close out 2024 and enter a new calendar year, let’s take a look at 10 of the Uncrewed Systems Operations Center’s top accomplishments for fiscal year 2024. Uncrewed systems serve as a force multiplier for NOAA by enhancing traditional data collection and allowing data collection in minimally observed regions. In doing so, NOAA can increase the productivity, safety, and longevity of its data collection and better meet its mission of science, service, and stewardship. This work will continue to grow NOAA’s capabilities in using uncrewed systems to meet NOAA mission needs across the country.
- Supported 32 distinct projects across NOAA to develop and operate uncrewed systems to gather mission critical data. Notable advances in uncrewed systems through supported projects include:

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NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute completed 10 successful autonomous underwater vehicle dives on Sentry in American Samoa to explore undersea geologic hazards and search for the lost aircraft, the Samoan Clipper.
- NOAA National Severe Storms Lab in partnership with the University of Oklahoma patented a new weather uncrewed aircraft design (known as “CopterSonde”) that is being enhanced to operate in stronger winds.
- NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center surveyed over 1,600 miles in waters around the main Hawaiian Islands and Puerto Rico using underwater gliders to improve marine mammal assessments.
- NOAA Global Systems Lab utilized simulated uncrewed aircraft network studies to find ways to make noticeable improvements in weather forecast model outputs using uncrewed aircraft with minimal investments.
- NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducted 4 missions, covering 200 nautical miles, using the Longe Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (LRAUV, nicknamed “Stella”) to collect seafloor imagery and oceanographic data to contribute to the lucrative and well-managed scallop fishery.
- Increased our knowledge of hurricane systems and improved forecasting and storm situational awareness with uncrewed systems. During the 2024 hurricane season NOAA and its partners deployed 19 Blackswift uncrewed aircraft from NOAA Hurricane Hunter planes, conducted over 44 glider missions, and operated 12 Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles that all gathered data in the path of hurricanes for NOAA scientists.

- Acquired NOAA’s second corporate uncrewed marine system, DriX uncrewed surface vehicle, and ran NOAA’s first in-house DriX operator training to familiarize new pilots with the systems and improve operational efficiency and safety. Meet the DriX in this video.
- Supported 37,800 flight minutes in over 3,210 uncrewed aircraft flights across NOAA.
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Partnered with over 17 academic institutions, more than 10 industry operators of uncrewed systems, and numerous other government agencies to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of NOAA's environmental observations via uncrewed systems. Example partnerships include:
- TerraSond Limited used an uncrewed surface vehicle to collect 3,968 linear nautical miles of bathymetric data to update navigational products for Kotzebue Sound in western Alaska.
- Oklahoma State University, Virginia Tech, and the Ronin Institute worked to improve NOAA weather forecasting using uncrewed aircraft.
- Saildrone Inc. operated an uncrewed surface vehicle for NOAA in place of a data buoy to gather important oceanic and atmospheric observations in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
- MIT Lincoln Labs and Virginia Tech worked to advance NOAA’s aerial sampling range by developing the safety of beyond visual line of sight operations using uncrewed aircraft.
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute enabled glider-based pH and CO2 monitoring capabilities for NOAA in the Gulf Stream to assess ocean conditions in support of healthy ecosystems.
- Overwatch Aero supported testing of the deployment of NOAA atmospheric science sensors on a FVR-90 uncrewed aircraft to improve the flexibility and efficiency of air quality sampling compared to traditional methods.
- Awarded 28 new Department of Defense-certified ‘Blue Drones’ to NOAA offices and conducted 10 trainings across the country to train 49 new NOAA uncrewed aircraft operators. By growing NOAA's team of uncrewed aircraft operators, we are improving the efficiency and safety of operations.
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Supported NOAA uncrewed systems operations across the country via provisioning of trained personnel and platforms. Example operations include:
- Operated the DriX from the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson to support hydrographic survey efforts off Savannah, GA (acquired 2,041 LNM of multi-beam data, improving survey productivity by 20%).
- Coordinated the integration of small uncrewed aircraft into Hurricane Hunter missions for the 2024 hurricane season to collect data from a larger portion of the hurricane.
- Piloted underwater gliders for the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in the Arctic to gather ocean environmental data that cannot be gathered via ships.
- Developed two new funding opportunities to encourage advancements in uncrewed systems usage across NOAA with partners in academia and industry for 2025 and beyond. These funding opportunities will support NOAA researchers and their partners in making breakthroughs for NOAA with uncrewed systems. Check out our past funded works here and here.
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Surveyed previously unobserved or minimally observed parts of the atmosphere and oceans via uncrewed systems. Uncrewed systems allowed NOAA to access areas that are otherwise difficult to access (due to safety, cost, and other resources) by traditional sampling methods. Example efforts to survey these areas include:
- NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, and Office of Habitat Conservation’s Deep-sea Coral Program utilized Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles to gather high-resolution seafloor mapping data in regions of the Gulf of Maine with limited mapping data available.
- NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Severe Storm Laboratory, and others explored how we can sample within severe weather events to improve weather forecasts, warning lead times, and overall awareness.
- NOAA, the University of Southern Mississippi, and partners surveyed for potential hypoxic zones in ocean conditions that were unsafe for traditional crewed boat operations.
- Published four reports and analyses on NOAA’s uncrewed systems work that analyze and highlight NOAA’s uncrewed systems work. These documents feature critical uncrewed systems efforts from the U.S. East Coast to Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific territories, and from the Arctic to the Gulf Coast. They also assess NOAA’s historic uncrewed systems work and direct NOAA future uncrewed systems work. Check out the reports in the ‘Resources’ page.