NORTH FALMOUTH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Teledyne Webb Research, a division of Teledyne Technologies (NYSE:TDY) and a leading provider of neutrally buoyant, autonomous drifters and profilers, autonomous underwater gliding vehicles, and moored underwater sound sources, has received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the provision of Slocum gliders, sensors, and service components. The award has a maximum value of $7,000,000 USD over five years, with an initial procurement in excess of $600,000 USD.
The U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) Program of the NOAA Fisheries Service has conducted ship-based acoustic and oceanographic research surveys around the Antarctic Peninsula since 1986. Data collected from this Program are used to provide advice to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) that establish catch limits for the Antarctic krill fishery.
Climate changes have altered the distribution, intensity and timing of this important fishery over the last decade. The fishery season, for example, has expanded as both sea-ice extent and distribution have declined. This expansion leads to a potential negative impact on ecosystem health such as known areas of krill-dependent predators.
In an effort to systematically provide ecological data at appropriate spatio-temporal scales, and over a longer sampling season, the U.S. AMLR Program has implemented a krill research program that will utilize an array of moorings and gliders around the Antarctic Peninsula. Data collected from this research will replace traditional ship-based surveys and will provide standardized spatial and temporal data to better understand the consequences of overlap among krill, predators, and the krill fishery, and provide other dynamic oceanic attributes of the study area. Along with arrays of moored ADCPs and CTDs, NOAA has developed a glider-based survey program. Teledyne Webb Research G3 electric Slocum gliders, equipped with Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profilers (AZFP) using three acoustic frequencies (38, 67 and 125 kHz) to record backscatter of krill biomass. This sampling Program will commence in October of 2018, and is expected to provide the framework for sustained ecosystem monitoring using autonomous platforms. This Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) services contract will provide The U.S. AMLR Program with the ability to continue to build out its glider fleet, add additional science components and service the gliders.
About Teledyne Webb Research
Teledyne Webb Research designs and manufactures scientific instruments for oceanographic research and monitoring with a focus on extended observations over both time and space. Teledyne Webb Research specializes in three areas of ocean instrumentation: Neutrally buoyant, autonomous drifters and profilers, autonomous underwater gliding vehicles, and moored underwater sound sources. These systems are core to several major ocean monitoring programs including the international Argo array, the National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative and the U.S. Navy Littoral Battlespace Sensing – Glider (LBS-G) program of record. A Teledyne Webb Research Slocum glider, the Scarlet Knight, was the first unmanned vehicle to cross an ocean. To learn more, visit http://www.teledynemarine.com/webb-research/.
About Teledyne
Teledyne Technologies is a leading provider of sophisticated instrumentation, digital imaging products and software, aerospace and defense electronics, and engineered systems. Teledyne Technologies’ operations are primarily located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Western and Northern Europe. For more information, visit Teledyne Technologies’ website at www.teledyne.com.
