In the News
Robot Boats are Sailing the Seven Seas to Predict El Nino
Self-driving boats, kitted out with scientific sensors, could hold the key to avoiding the next major weather disaster. The boats, created by Saildrone, are being used by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory to enhance data gathered from the Pacific Ocean, where water temperature patterns are helping scientists understand the El Niño phenomenon. Being able to predict the next event could save millions of dollars and countless lives.
No Sailors Needed: Robot Sailboats Scour the Oceans for Data
Two robotic sailboats trace lawn-mower-style paths across the violent surface of the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska. The boats are counting fish — haddock, to be specific — with a fancy version of the fish finder sonar you’d find on a bass fishing boat.
Sailboat-Like Drone Helps NOAA Study the Arctic Ecosystem
Drones are changing the way we look at coastlines. In a conference call on Thursday about the use of drones in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jessica N. Cross, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, talked about the use of Saildrone, a sailboat-sized, commercially produced UAV in monitoring populations of fish and other information about the changing oceans in the Arctic.
Unmanned ‘Saildrones’ Depart Once Again from Dutch Harbor on Bering Sea Data-Gathering Mission
The innovative Saildrones, developed by Saildrone Inc, have once again been deployed to the Bering Sea, taking the place of manned vessels to gather information from areas that are generally inaccessible to full-sized research vessels, and are able to operate in a more cost-effective way.
NOAA invests $4.5 million to improve ocean observations for weather and climate prediction
NOAA’s Climate Program Office announced today that it is investing $4.5 million in four projects to test technology designed to improve the Tropical Pacific Observing System, an array of buoys in the tropical Pacific used to better understand El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), how it develops, and how it affects Earth’s weather.