Two robots are patrolling the sea off Georgia this month. Their mission: collect and transmit real time data to help scientists better predict hurricane activity.
“The idea is to have one robot on the surface measuring the meteorology in the surface oceanographic conditions, while we have another robot underneath it, measuring temperature and salinity,” said Catherine Edwards, associate professor at UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, and in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia.
Edwards and her colleagues launched an underwater glider last week from the deck of the R/V Sam Gray about 20 miles off Richmond Hill in the waters of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The bright yellow vehicle looks like a torpedo with wings. It’s nicknamed Franklin after Benjamin Franklin, who was the first to chart the Gulf Stream, a river of warm salty water about 80 miles offshore. Waiting for the glider was a blaze orange Saildrone vehicle — identified not by nickname but number as 1095. Researchers had remotely piloted the solar and wind-powered Saildrone from Jacksonville for the rendezvous.
Saildrone is a California company that designs, manufactures, and operates unmanned sailing vessels. The hurricane project works with the Saildrone vehicles to measure solar irradiance, barometric pressure, air temperature, humidity, wind, waves, water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen and ocean currents.
After running Franklin through its test paces Wednesday, it was time to go, said Karen Dreger, lead glider technician.
“It’ll hang out at the reef a couple of days and then go offshore,” she said.
The Saildrone will go with it. The two robots will spend August patrolling an area that extends from Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, about 20 miles off Richmond Hill, out to the Gulf Stream.
Continue reading: https://thecurrentga.org/2022/08/09/drones-patrol-off-georgia-for-hurricane-data/
“The idea is to have one robot on the surface measuring the meteorology in the surface oceanographic conditions, while we have another robot underneath it, measuring temperature and salinity,” said Catherine Edwards, associate professor at UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, and in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia.
Edwards and her colleagues launched an underwater glider last week from the deck of the R/V Sam Gray about 20 miles off Richmond Hill in the waters of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The bright yellow vehicle looks like a torpedo with wings. It’s nicknamed Franklin after Benjamin Franklin, who was the first to chart the Gulf Stream, a river of warm salty water about 80 miles offshore. Waiting for the glider was a blaze orange Saildrone vehicle — identified not by nickname but number as 1095. Researchers had remotely piloted the solar and wind-powered Saildrone from Jacksonville for the rendezvous.
Saildrone is a California company that designs, manufactures, and operates unmanned sailing vessels. The hurricane project works with the Saildrone vehicles to measure solar irradiance, barometric pressure, air temperature, humidity, wind, waves, water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen and ocean currents.
After running Franklin through its test paces Wednesday, it was time to go, said Karen Dreger, lead glider technician.
“It’ll hang out at the reef a couple of days and then go offshore,” she said.
The Saildrone will go with it. The two robots will spend August patrolling an area that extends from Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, about 20 miles off Richmond Hill, out to the Gulf Stream.
Continue reading: https://thecurrentga.org/2022/08/09/drones-patrol-off-georgia-for-hurricane-data/
