Image Credit: inceptivemind.com
A California-based company Saildrone and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released video footage gathered
by a Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) from inside Hurricane
Fiona, a Category 4 hurricane barreling across the Atlantic Ocean. On
Thursday, Saildrone Explorer SD 1078 was directed into the midst of
Hurricane Fiona, which is currently on a path northward in the Atlantic
Ocean and is now impacting Bermuda before crashing into Canada this
weekend. Hurricane Fiona is the first Category storm of the 2022 season.
The ocean drone battled 50-foot waves and winds measuring over 100 mph
(160 km/h) to collect critical scientific data and, in the process, gave us a
completely new view of one of Earth’s most destructive forces. Inside the
storm, SD 1078 traveled at sustained speeds of over 9 mph (14 km/h).
At one moment, it reached a peak speed of 39.7 mph (64 km/h) while
surfing down a massive wave. SD 1078 is one of seven “hurricane”
saildrones deployed in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico this hurricane
season to gather data that will help forecasters better
understand the physical processes of hurricanes.