We’ve applied lessons learned from decades of hard-won experience at the forefront of ocean measurement to successive generations of ocean-going platforms and sensors.

Tidal prediction methods used today across the world were conceived by us. The thousands of Argo floats in the oceans have their origins in the Swallow Float developed by us in the 1960s. We deployed one of the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicles in the mid 1990s; more recently, we pioneered using co-ordinated fleets of autonomous underwater and surface vehicles.

Technology Development and Applications

Marine Autonomous and Robotic Systems

Oceanographers have driven the widespread use and acceptance of robotic and autonomous systems in the marine environment. The use of these platforms has transformed our ability to monitor the oceans by enabling autonomous, adaptive and persistent observations from the surface to the deepest depths and furthest reaches of the oceans.

More about Marine Autonomous Robotic Systems

Technology Archive

The National Oceanography Centre – and its predecessor organisations – has been at the forefront of innovative marine technology development for decades.

More about our archived technology
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