How the Public Private Partnership between NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Saildrone is addressing the Engineering Challenges of Surface In Situ Observations in the Tropical Pacific

As part of the TPOS2020 initiative, PMEL and Saildrone began testing the long-range wind-powered Saildrone USVs as a potential platform to measure air-sea interactions in the Tropical Pacific, aiming to address the scarcity of in-situ ocean data and augment existing observing infrastructure (such as remote sensing, argo floats, ships and moorings).

During the first mission (2017), two USVs sailed to the equator and did a comparison study with the RV Roger Revelle and the WHOI buoy in the SPURS-2 field study region in the Tropical Pacific. Analysis has shown the Saildrone USV to be a cost efficient solution for adaptive sampling and monitoring of surface air-sea interaction and biogeochemistry in the Tropical Pacific (Zhang et al., 2019; Cronin et al., 2018). In a second mission (2018), Saildrone USVs were deployed to selected TAO moorings in the Central Pacific and to an mTriton site in the Western Pacific. Navigation in the equatorial zone was initially a challenge for the Saildrone USVs due to the combination of light winds and strong currents, leading to rapid biofouling. Saildrone engineers addressed these challenges by modifying the hull coatings, enhancing the USVs navigation software, and locating a regional operating hub to reduce transit time. A third mission is currently underway, and the Saildrone USVs are so far demonstrating excellent long-term performance abilities in low winds, strong currents, and warm productive waters.

The challenges and solutions developed during these missions demonstrate the power of a PPP as a framework to harness new technologies for science objectives. As a result of this collaboration, Saildrone has developed a fit-for-purpose technology to augment the TPOS infrastructure with a high performance, operation-ready platform that provides high quality data at scale. In this session, Saildrone will highlight the advances in technology made possible by this partnership to provide future infrastructure for TPOS.