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IMAGE: U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, deploy an oceanographic sensor buoy during the Trident Warrior exercise. view more
Credit: (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Juan Anaya)
ARLINGTON, Va. Flying several thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean, an air crew and a scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tossed cylindrical floats from a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft. Packed with data-gathering sensors to measure underwater conditions, the floats fell fast before orange parachutes opened to ease splashdown.
The action marked the first time such sensor-laden profiling floats, also called buoys, were deployed from a Marine Corps aircraft. This will increase naval knowledge of the ocean battlespace including the littorals (areas of water close to shoreline), which are crucial to expeditionary and amphibious operations.
U S Marines use sensor buoys to better understand ocean battlespace phys.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from phys.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.