With life-threatening heat waves experienced around the globe and the hurricane season upon the US, access to ocean data has never been more critical. The ocean environment is a key driver of weather patterns on land. Unless we understand our oceans, the insights we can gain about our changing climate and its impact on humanity are limited.
To ensure the flow of ocean data continues uninterrupted for weather forecasting, Saildrone, in collaboration with the NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), is sending two uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) into the Gulf of Mexico to collect data in two areas currently experiencing buoy outages.
The NDBC has over 200 moored weather buoys collecting ocean data around the globe. Maintaining the network of buoys and all their sensors is a big job that requires experts to travel on ships for weeks at a time far from shore to reach and repair the buoys. Two weather buoys in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico are slated for repair in the coming weeks. Until they are back online, Saildrone USVs will collect and send ocean data to the NDBC beginning on August 22, 2022, which will be shared with climatologists and weather forecasters around the world via the Global Telecommunication System (GTS).
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