National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce

AOML

When Saildrone Met Hurricane Sam

Saildrone 1045, one of the five drones PMEL and AOML deployed in the western Atlantic was steered into position to intercept Category 4 Hurricane Sam on September 30, 2021 to record critical data. The encounter required precise interpretation of hurricane forecasts and tight collaboration with Saildrone pilots.

Color bar map of the Atlantic Ocean section of 61-59 degrees west to 21 to 24 degrees north where Hurricane Sam meet the saildrone

Saildrone 1045 location (triangle) overlaid on an infrared image from NOAA geostationary satellite (colors) at 16:00 UTC September 30, 2021. The saildrone track (light blue line) starts at 04:00 UTC on the same day. Courtesy of Edorado Mazza/University of Washington.

7 graphs stacked on top of one another showing the changes in various ocean conditions before and after the hurricane encounter eac highlighting

Time series of saildrone measurements of wind, humidity, pressure, current speed, wave heights and solar radiation on September 30, 2021. Vertical line marks the time when the saildrone was located inside the eyewall of Hurricane Sam. Click on image to view all the variables.

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