Southern Ocean

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 from the First Saildrone Antarctic Circumnavigation has been released to the global scientific community on Saildrone’s new data portal, data.saildrone.com, a repository of high-resolution in-situ observations collected by our global fleet of ocean drones.

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 has partnered with the 1851 Trust to develop a series of data-driven lesson plans on issues related to the 2019 Antarctic Circumnavigation, free for teachers and educators.

Penguins are the most famous of Antarctic seabirds, but the region is home to dozens of pelagic species, including albatrosses, petrels, and terns.

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

Waves play a critical role in the health of the world ocean ecosystem.

During the 2019 Antarctic Circumnavigation, Saildrone is taking critical measurements of Earth’s only circumpolar current.

The Southern Ocean is critical for controlling how much CO2 is in the atmosphere, but as the water absorbs more carbon it becomes more acidic—and that could affect the health of a lot of organisms.

Just how variable is CO2 uptake in the Southern Ocean in winter?

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

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.

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.

Today we are announcing an important development: Sending our first fleet of saildrones into the Southern Ocean, in partnership with CSIRO, Australia’s pre-eminent national science organization.