Sending a small sailing boat to explore the interior of a hurricane may seem like a bad idea, but that is exactly what meteorologists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did in October. There was no danger though because the seven-metre vessel was crewless.
Saildrones are robot vessels that can stay at sea indefinitely with a combination of wind and solar power. Some, like Saildrone Explorer SD 1045, have been modified to handle 140mph winds and giant waves.
The Saildrone has a rigid sail called a wing. The hurricane wing is half the height of a standard wing, like reefing a traditional sail to reduce the risk of damage by decreasing its area. An earlier version tested in the Antarctic in 2019 could sail only downwind, whereas the new wing allows the drone to “run” and sail upwind like a traditional yacht.
Greg Foltz, an NOAA researcher, says the Saildrone project should provide useful data on rapid intensification, when hurricane winds gain in strength over the course of a few hours. Intensification can be dangerous to coastal communities because it gives so little warning.
SD 1045 is one of a fleet of five new hurricane explorers, and the first to sail through the eye of a hurricane sending back video and other data in real time.
