CALANOID: A Modular, Air-Deployable Ocean Profiler
PI: Anuscheh Nawaz, University of Washington
Partners: Sofar Ocean Technologies, Inc.
Current ocean sensing platforms face critical limitations in scalability, cost, and data accessibility. As a result, submesoscale ocean dynamics—small-scale processes essential to ocean mixing and climate—remain undersampled due to the lack of distributed in-situ observations. Addressing this gap requires a modular, cost-effective profiling float capable of dense, scalable deployment. Sofar Ocean and the University of Washington aim to design and validate such a platform: an affordable, air-launched, mass-deployable ocean sensor system.
The proposed system, CALANOID, leverages modularity and the Bristlemouth open standard to enable interchangeable and upgradeable components, including sensors, telemetry, and buoyancy engines. This flexibility allows CALANOID to adapt to diverse scientific and operational missions—including submesoscale eddy dynamics—without fundamental redesign.
As part of the effort the University of Washington focuses on a dramatically lower-cost CTD sensor payload. The NanoCTD incorporates a low-cost, low-power salinity sensor based on solid-state potentiometry that directly measures chloride ion concentration, avoiding the size and power demands of traditional CTD sensors. This salinity sensor is paired with advanced MEMS-based temperature and pressure sensors to complete the payload.
Sofar Ocean will iteratively prototype and test CALANOID designs to ensure air deployability and compliance with A-size sonobuoy specifications. The ABS plastic hull will be pressure-tested to 400 meters, and robust, modular buoyancy and battery systems will be developed to support two-month missions. Manufacturing costs are minimized through the use of off-the-shelf components and proven engineering practices.
Once developed, CALANOID will deliver critical observations of submesoscale processes and improve ocean models, while supporting applications ranging from naval operations to climate research.