PMEL’s First Flotation Controllable Ocean Mooring Resurfaces in the Chukchi Sea
Scientist(s):
After 8 months of sitting on the seafloor, PMEL’s latest engineering development, the Flotation Controllable Ocean Mooring (FCOM) system successfully resurfaced in July. Over the last two years, PMEL has been developing a profiling mooring for use in Arctic regions that submerges when ice arrives in the fall and refloats in the spring after ice retreat. The FCOM system has a surface float that is anchored to the ocean floor, and includes a Prawler that moves up and down the mooring line collecting profiles of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen.
Flotation Controllable Ocean Mooring (FCOM) system resurfacing during testing in Puget Sound.
