AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2020 E744
Saildrone
Adaptively Sampling the Marine Environment
C. L. Gentemann, Joel P. Scott, Piero L. F. Mazzini, Cassia Pianca, Santha Akella,
Peter J. Minnett, Peter Cornillon, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Ivona Cetinić, T. Mike Chin,
Jose Gomez-Valdes, Jorge Vazquez-Cuervo, Vardis Tsontos, Lisan Yu, Richard Jenkins,
Sebastien De Halleux, Dave Peacock, and Nora Cohen
ABSTRACT: From 11 April to 11 June 2018 a new type of ocean observing platform, the Saildrone
surface vehicle, collected data on a round-trip, 60-day cruise from San Francisco Bay, down the
U.S. and Mexican coast to Guadalupe Island. The cruise track was selected to optimize the science
team’s validation and science objectives. The validation objectives include establishing the accuracy
of these new measurements. The scientific objectives include validation of satellite-derived fluxes,
sea surface temperatures, and wind vectors and studies of upwelling dynamics, river plumes,
air–sea interactions including frontal regions, and diurnal warming regions. On this deployment,
the Saildrone carried 16 atmospheric and oceanographic sensors. Future planned cruises (with
open data policies) are focused on improving our understanding of air–sea fluxes in the Arctic
Ocean and around North Brazil Current rings.
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0015.1
Corresponding author: C. L. Gentemann, cgentemann@faralloninstitute.org
In final form 6 January 2020
©2020 American Meteorological Society
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