Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Autonomous Sampling topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Autonomous sampler 'Lightfish' completes mission off La Push; council sees offshore sampling as a tool to improve bloom lead times
Summary
WICMAC members saw a demonstration of an autonomous surface vehicle (Lightfish/Kumtuk) that completed an 82‑hour mission taking 16 water samples and real‑time sensor readings, offering a way to fill offshore data gaps and supplement coastal bulletins.
Project leads demonstrated results from a recent Lightfish (Kumtuk) mission run from La Push and discussed plans to expand missions to augment offshore monitoring.
"It has solar arrays on top… the entire surface solar array, so you put it out, and it can go out indefinitely if you have a way of charging," a project lead said, describing the vehicle’s endurance and telemetry. The vehicle completed an 82‑hour mission with 16 automated water samplings and transmitted chlorophyll and other sensor data in near real time to inform bulletins.
Presenters described how the vehicle can be used adaptively: operators can retask waypoints or target sampling where sensors indicate anomalies, providing an offshore complement to the coastal ORHAB network and mooring arrays. The team also discussed community engagement and plans to deploy missions monthly or as needed during bloom seasons.
Council members welcomed the technology as a means to close an offshore sampling gap, noting the recent loss of some monitoring buoys. Presenters said vehicle sampling is limited by the current 16‑sample kit per mission and described opportunities for follow‑up missions to increase spatial coverage.
