Missions

Researchers are working to assess how climate change and ocean acidification are impacting Hawaii’s coastal environment.

The Saildrone Surveyor, the world’s largest uncrewed ocean mapping vehicle, has mapped more than 45,000 square kilometers (17,375 square miles) of previously unexplored ocean floor during a months-long survey around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the coast of California.

SD 1067 spent six months collecting climate science data in the Southern Ocean as part of the international Southern Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate project.

Given the economic and cultural value of the Lake Superior fishery, it’s more important than ever to provide fishery managers with accurate data to monitor native fish populations to sustainably manage the $7B Great Lakes fishery.

Saildrone Explorer SD 1078 is battling 50-foot waves and winds measured over 100 mph inside the Cat 4 hurricane.

Two Saildrone Explorers are collecting data in the Gulf of Mexico to mitigate a weather buoy outage.

Two Saildrone Explorers will collect data in Lake Superior to improve fish counts, monitor environmental health, and help to protect native fish species.

SD 1079 spent 370 days at sea collecting CO2 data in a remote area of the Tropical Atlantic to improve global carbon projections and more sustainably manage ocean resources.

Saildrone and NOAA are launching seven wind-powered ocean drones to collect data inside hurricanes in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, the Weather Channel, and Popular Mechanics have named the Atlantic hurricane mission one of the most important stories of 2021.

A group of Saildrone Explorers were deployed from Newport, RI, to build the largest ever set of wintertime weather and carbon data in the Gulf Stream.

NASA’s S-MODE experiment leveraged instruments of the sea and sky to study how small-scale ocean dynamics impact Earth’s climate system.

Saildrone Explorer SD 1045 is collecting valuable ocean data about how hurricanes intensify for NOAA.

Two Saildrone Explorers were deployed from Macatawa, MI, to collect fisheries data in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron on behalf of the USGS Great Lakes Science Center.

Following this successful proof of concept voyage, Saildrone will build a fleet of Surveyors, manufactured at US shipyards, to map Earth’s oceans in the next 10 years.

In partnership with NOAA, Saildrone is going storm chasing in the Tropical Atlantic to collect data where it’s never been collected before—inside a hurricane.

SD 1023 was one of three saildrones deployed as part of the 2019 Antarctic Circumnavigation that sought new scientific insights in the Southern Ocean.

Data collected by a fleet of Saildrone unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) will inform this year’s Alaska pollock fish stock assessment.

Four saildrones sailed 8,000 nautical miles round trip from San Francisco to the Canadian border to collect bathymetry data off Alaska’s North Slope.

Saildrone’s Arctic fleet has begun to map the 20-meter and 50-meter contour lines from Point Hope to the Canadian border.

Two autonomous wind-powered vehicles sailed from Cabo Verde to Trieste, Italy, demonstrating how fit-for-purpose technology can be used to increase ocean observation.

Two saildrones have been collecting data about air-sea interactions in a productive region of the western Tropical Atlantic on behalf of NOAA.

Three Saildrone USVs have begun a 60-day acoustic survey on behalf of NOAA Fisheries after transiting more than 2,000 nautical miles from San Francisco to the Bering Sea.

This first-of-its-kind acoustic bathymetry mission will test the ability of Saildrone USVs to map the US exclusive economic zone off Alaska’s North Slope.

With upcoming ship-based surveys in Alaska canceled due to the global health crisis, NOAA Fisheries has turned to Saildrone to collect data to support the sustainable management of America’s largest fishery.

Five saildrones deployed from Barbados observed ocean-atmosphere interactions at the sub-mesoscale improve climate models and weather prediction.

SD 1030 and SD 1053 reverse the path of the ancient mariners, entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Pillars of Hercules.

Two saildrones spent more than 200 days surveying sandeel, saithe, and herring off the coast of Bergen in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

Five saildrones were deployed from Barbados to join the EUREC4A/ATOMIC project, a massive international effort using air, space, surface, and sub-surface platforms to improve climate models and weather prediction.

The 5th annual Arctic mission, in partnership with NOAA and NASA, took a fleet of saildrones to a new frontier—the Arctic ice edge—to improve sea ice prediction and satellite algorithm development.

The 30-day mission supported by a Saildrone Award studies the behavior and environmental influencers of small fishes, squids, and crustaceans in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

The 60-day Saildrone effort to assess stocks of Pacific hake and five coastal pelagic species was carried out in two sub-missions extending the full length of the US west coast, from San Diego to Cape Flattery.

Two saildrones equipped with acoustic receivers located 34% of the Alaska red king crabs that were tagged by NOAA Fisheries in June.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s annual experiment to investigate the diurnal vertical migration included a Saildrone USV equipped with an echo sounder.

Two Saildrone USVs are sailing from Cabo Verde to Trieste, Italy on a six-month mission to better understand ocean acidification, the global carbon budget, and the socio-economic impacts of a changing ocean ecosystem.

The first partnership between Japan’s premiere marine-earth science agency and Saildrone included missions to the reference KEO offshore buoy, a study of the Kuroshio Current, and at the site of the Tropical Pacific m-Triton buoy.

After setting the record for the fastest unmanned Atlantic crossing, SD 1021 has now completed the return journey, not only beating its own record time but also becoming the first autonomous vehicle to transit in both directions across the Atlantic Ocean.

SD 1020 survived freezing temperatures, 15-meter waves, 130 km/h winds, and collisions with giant icebergs to complete the 22,000-kilometer mission in 196 days.

Saildrone USVs have completed a series of missions to test the platform as part of the Tropical Pacific Observation System monitoring El Niño weather events in the Pacific Ocean.

Two concurrent missions will cover some 2,500 kilometers of coastline from San Diego to Vancouver Island.

Six saildrones were deployed from Dutch Harbor, AK, to survey ongoing changes in the Arctic ecosystem in partnership with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab and Alaska Fisheries Science Center and NASA.

The 2019 Sandeel and Saithe Mission will be the first European test of Saildrone USVs in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

SD 1020 is more than halfway around Antarctica, well on its way toward completing the first autonomous circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean.

How innovative autonomous technology is helping scientists to solve the mystery of northern fur seals disappearing from the remote Pribilof Islands.

60+ knot gusts and massive breaking waves? That’s just a typical day in the Southern Ocean.

The 2018 West Coast Fisheries Survey combined the efforts of a NOAA research vessel and a fleet of saildrones to observe and collect data on fish and marine mammals from anchovy to humpback whales.

Two centuries after the Belgica expedition became the first to survive a winter in Antarctica, Saildrone launched the first autonomous circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean.

This 30-day mission to study air-sea heat and carbon exchange in the Gulf Stream is made possible by a Saildrone Award.

The Saildrone Antarctic Circumnavigation, in partnership with the Li Ka Shing Foundation, is the first autonomous circumnavigation of this remote region.

The first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring this remote marine environment to the classroom.

Three Saildrone USVs launched from Bluff, NZ, January 2019. Their mission: the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica.

A flotilla of saildrones established a new northern record for an autonomous vehicle while measuring CO2 and Arctic cod abundance in the Chukchi Sea.

In the Summer of 2018, five saildrones embark on the first autonomous full West Coast fisheries survey, in collaboration with Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Oceans Canada, and the NOAA research vessel Reuben Lasker.

Saildrone helped ECOGIG consortium researchers understand the effects of wind and current on natural oil slicks and their larger impact on the Gulf ecosystem.