Fleet of Saildrones will depart Newport, head for Gulf Stream

April 14, 2021
A Saildrone sails in rough seas. The drone is a bright orange boat without any people and has numerous scientific instruments attached to its sail made of hard materials (instead of fabric). .
A Saildrone sailing in rough seas. (Photo: Saildrone)

Saildrone is a San Francisco-based company that provides unmanned vessels to government, universities and commercial organizations to gather ocean and weather data. Later this year, six Saildrones are preparing to leave Newport as they sail to the Gulf Stream to gather crucial data in the area. “The ocean provides this service of removing about 1/4 of the CO2 that humans emit into the atmosphere,” GSO professor Jaime Palter said. “So, we really want to see if that ocean CO2 will persist into the future.”

Read more about the Saildrones in these three articles:

Fleet of Saildrones will depart Newport, head for Gulf Stream (WPRI)

URI using drones in new ocean research (WLNE)

How high-tech robotic surfboards could change our understanding of the Gulf Stream (The Washington Post)