Saildrone helping scientists improve hurricane forecasts

Saildrone 1045 docks in Bermuda after its historic mission into the eye of a Category 4 hurricane in 2021. Credit: Saildrone/Ali Hochberg/Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

On September 30, 2021, a saildrone uncrewed surface vehicle made history by intercepting the eyewall of Hurricane Sam in the northwestern tropical Atlantic, recording a viral video of what it’s like to be tossed around by 100 mile-per-hour winds and 30-foot high waves.
The Guinness Book of World Records later certified that a 126.4 mile-per-hour wind gust recorded by the bright orange 23-foot saildrone in the core of the Category 4 storm was a new world record for an uncrewed surface vehicle.

But the most long-lasting impact of Saildrone Explorer SD 1045’s trailblazing research voyage may come from the continuous readings collected by the craft’s temperature sensors. Timely, accurate upper-ocean observations like those collected during the mission could directly benefit hurricane intensity forecasts - if they can be swiftly provided to weather forecast systems, according to new research by NOAA oceanographers published in Frontiers of Marine Science.