ARLINGTON, Va.—In January 2025, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) partnered with the 144th Airlift Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program (USIABP) and the International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR) to deploy meteorological and oceanographic buoys across more than 5,000 nautical miles of the Arctic Ocean.
The mission marked the eighth successful buoy-drop collaboration by the partners since 2023, with approximately 126 buoys deployed so far. Such deployments are critical for maintaining the Arctic Observing Network (AON), which provides critical observations for weather and ice forecasting and related research.