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A dynamic era in naval oceanography recently ended as the iconic Floating Instrument Platform — popularly known as FLIP — was officially retired from service. Built in 1962 with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), FLIP helped generations of scientists and oceanographers better understand the mysteries of the sea, including internal waves, air-sea interaction and long-range sound propagation. Sadly, age and exorbitant life-extension costs resulted in the platform being disestablished. On Aug. 3, a solemn gathering of well-wishers watched as FLIP was towed, at sunset, to a dismantling and recycling facility. Last month, a formal good-bye ceremony was hosted by the Marine Physical Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Though retired, FLIP will live on at Scripps. One of its booms (crane-like arms for suspending instruments) will be installed on the Scripps research pier in La Jolla and used to deploy instruments. Also, artifacts from the platform will be displayed in a permanent exhibit at Scripps’ Birch Aquarium.

ONR SCOUT is an ongoing, multiagency experimentation campaign to identify new ways to bring unmanned technologies to warfighter problems, test them in realistic operating conditions and get them to the fleet and force. SCOUT is committed to partnering with industry to get nontraditional, commercial-off-the-shelf, government-developed and/or government-sponsored technologies to the fleet rapidly.

New Investigator, HBCU/MSI, Early Career and Student Opportunities

Famed explorer Dr. Robert Ballard recently visited ONR to celebrate his 53-year partnership with the command.

Three esteemed engineers with ties to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Class of 2025. NAE members are among the world’s most accomplished engineers from business, academia and government.

The Littoral Geosciences and Optics program (ONR 322LO) supports basic and applied research for expeditionary warfare, naval special warfare, mine warfare and antisubmarine warfare in shelf, near-shore, estuarine, riverine and riparian environments, with a particular emphasis on robust 4D prediction of environmental characteristics in denied, distant or remote environments.

During a visit to San Diego for the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21, Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Lorin Selby said America’s growing focus on autonomous capabilities is showing impressive results.

Today, the White House Office of Science, Technology, and Policy (OSTP) released the “National Strategy for Aquatic Environmental DNA.” The Environmental DNA (eDNA) Task Team had 10 federal agencies participating in drafting the strategy and included significant scoping and engagement of the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations.

Study of Air-Sea Fluxes and Atmospheric River Intensity (SAFARI)

Assessing surf zone conditions has never been an exact science for the Department of the Navy. That’s about to change thanks to a recent request to TechSolutions, which has resulted in new surf observation (SUROB) technology to make operational forecasts more precise. For the past six months, a team of scientists and engineers from the Naval Research Lab (NRL) and the U.S. Army’s Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) have been developing the technological tools needed to create a more precise surf observation report. In order to gain greater insight into how the surf observation tool may improve warfighter operations, NavalX recently organized a workshop that brought together the science and engineering developers with the Sailors and Marines who would use it. TechSolutions received the request less than a year ago for a technology-driven solution for surf observation from Maj. Zachary Taylor, a technology officer with the Marines’ Warfighting Lab. Within weeks, TechSolutions began working with the development team at NRL and ERDC to come up with a prototype.