Last July, Saildrone launched an unmanned aquatic drone loaded with sensors to embark on a journey of discovery in the North Pacific tasked with filling a gap in ocean mapping around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the coast of California.
Despite being one of the world’s largest Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), the waters around the United States are reportedly largely “unmapped, unobserved, and unsurveyed.” Seafloor mapping by manned research vessels can prove difficult, costly and time-consuming, and that is where Saildrone’s vessels can help.
Saildrone’s Explorer has garnered a lot of attention since its 2018 introduction of the first 7-meter (23-foot) long unmanned surface vehicle that tracks hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and records footage inside Hurricane Sam. However, the mission in Alaska has been embarked on. by the company’s much larger Surveyor model.
Surveyor SD 1200 will depart from Saildrone’s headquarters in Alameda, California, in July 2022 to conduct months of ocean mapping and environmental research in one of the most remote and understudied areas of the US EEZ. I started researching data.
sail drone
The unmanned craft is 20 m (65 ft) long, has a 44 ft (13 m) high wing, and propels in the wind at an average speed of 5 knots (5.7 mph/9.3 km/h). Equipped with a 78 hp auxiliary diesel system, she can accelerate to 10 knots if needed. The vehicle’s body also houses photovoltaic panels for power electronics and instruments designed to collect acoustic, oceanographic and weather data.
An Environmental Sample Processor from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute also accompanied us on this journey. “A ‘lab in a can’ for collecting data on ocean diversity and ocean health using the genetic ‘fingerprints’ left by marine life.”
By October, SD 1200 had dispelled winds of 35 knots, withstood swells exceeding 5 meters (16 feet), and mapped 16.524 square kilometers (4,739 square nanometers) of uncharted seafloor around the Aleutian Islands for 52 days. Did. But the surveyors still had work to do, and then set off to map the area off the coast of California. Successfully recording data over an area of 29,720 square kilometers (8.665 square nanometers), he landed on a previously unknown seamount 1,000 m high (3,200 ft) halfway.
sail drone
“Surveyor brings new and exciting capabilities to ocean exploration and mapping,” said Brian Connon, Vice President of Ocean Mapping at Saildrone. “Mapping at the Aleutian Column is no trivial matter, and conditions there can be harsh at any time of the year. Surveyors survive storms, collect high-resolution bathymetry, and put humans at risk. “This mission is a viable option for achieving the goals of the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization Strategy. This is the future of ocean mapping.”
The multi-partner project was funded primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Office of Ocean Energy Management, with operations at sea managed by NOAA’s ocean exploration staff and the Center for Coastal Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire.
Once processed, the data collected from the Aleutian Islands mission will be published through NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information portal, as well as to optimize dive targets for future manned missions to the region by NOAA’s Oceanos Explorer. is also used.
Source: Sail Drone
