Saildrones are autonomous vehicles working in the ocean off the coast of Florida. They help us understand climate change, hurricanes and forecasts. Much of the destruction caused by hurricanes comes from storm surge, but it’s hard to predict. come up with better information about the ocean floor. Hurricane winds aren’t the only thing that influences storm surge. Katrina was a Category 3 when it made landfall in Louisiana, but got a 28-foot storm surge. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided a map showing the 23-foot wave flooding. NOAA estimates that in the Gulf and East Coast coastal communities, a 23-foot surge can flood 67% of highways, nearly half of all railroads, 29 airports and virtually every port in the Gulf Coast region. gulf.” The topography of the ocean floor is a boundary condition for models that are making a storm surge because essentially if there is any type of change in slope or if there is features on the bottom of the ocean, as this storm comes ashore and pushes the water out, those features or that slope could really change the way the water moves,” said Brian Connon, vice president of mapping. oceans at Saildrone Inc. but only about 35% of the more than 95,000 miles of coastal waters in the United States have been charted with modern methods. g used to map the ocean floor accurately and inexpensively using high-tech sonar equipment. “A Saildrone is a unique, wind-powered vehicle that is a very long endurance vehicle. So traditionally surveys are done with a typical ship that goes out, that has a lot of people on board, that burns a lot of fuel diesel. With a Saildrone you don’t have the people. You’re using the wind for propulsion, and really, that makes it very environmentally friendly and gives us very long stamina to stay clear and reach the furthest parts that allow us to map down to over 7,000 meters deep, so over 23,000 feet below the surface,” Connon said. Sonar is sound in the ocean. “Sound travels and strikes the bottom of the ocean, then it comes back and we get it. And that time difference, taking into account the speed of sound in the water, which allows us to determine the depth of the water under the sailboat,” said said Cannon. Accurate ocean mapping can also help with navigation. management and natural resource management, but he hopes it could help save lives with better forecasts of storm surges.
Saildrones are autonomous vehicles working in the ocean off the coast of Florida.
They help us understand climate change, hurricanes and forecasts.
Much of the destruction caused by hurricanes comes from storm surge, but it’s hard to predict.
Advances in storm surge forecasting could come with better information about the ocean floor.
Hurricane winds aren’t the only thing that influences storm surge. Katrina was Category 3 when it made landfall in Louisiana, but suffered a 28-foot storm surge.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided a map showing flooding from a 23-foot surge.
NOAA estimates that in Gulf and East Coast coastal communities, a 23-foot surge can flood 67% of highways, nearly half of all railroads, 29 airports, and virtually every port in the Gulf region. Gulf Coast.
“The topography of the ocean floor is a boundary condition for models that make storm surges, because essentially if there is any change in slope or if there are features on the bottom of the ocean, as this storm lands and pushes the water, those features or that slope could really change the way the water moves,” said Brian Connon, vice president of ocean mapping at Saildrone Inc.
But only about 35% of the more than 95,000 miles of coastal waters in the United States have been charted with modern methods.
Now, unmanned surface vehicles called Saildrones are used to map the ocean floor accurately and inexpensively using high-tech sonar equipment.
“A Saildrone is a unique, wind-powered vehicle that is a very long endurance vehicle. So traditionally surveys are done with a typical ship that goes out, has a lot of people on board, has a lot of diesel fuel that “it burns. With a Saildrone, you don’t have the people. You’re using the wind for propulsion, and really, that makes it very eco-friendly and gives us really long endurance to stay out there and get to the hardest parts. further out from the ocean that allows us to map down to over 7,000 meters deep, so over 23,000 feet below the surface,” Connon said.
Sonar is sound in the ocean.
“Sound travels and hits the bottom of the ocean and then it comes back and we receive it. And this time difference, taking into account the speed of sound in water, which allows us to determine the depth of water under the sailboat,” Cannon said.
Accurate ocean mapping can also help with navigation and natural resource management, but it’s hoped it could help save lives through better forecasts of storm surges.
#Ocean #mapping #Saildrones #lead #forecasts #storm #surges