Full Breakdown
Saildrone Embarks on a Seven-Month Antarctic Circumnavigation to Track Ocean Carbon Uptake
By Drooid · · How we work
Antarctic Voyage of an Uncrewed Saildrone
A seven-metre, high-visibility orange autonomous vessel built by the U.S. maritime company Saildrone left Hobart, Tasmania, to begin a roughly 22,000 km loop around Antarctica. The craft will travel eastward past New Zealand, navigate the Drake Passage, continue past South Africa, and return to Hobart, a journey that could last seven to nine months.
Design and Route Through Extreme Conditions
The drone is equipped with a heavy keel, a rudder, and a fixed solar sail that powers its instruments and communications. Remote operators will monitor the platform via satellite and can adjust its heading if needed. Within a day of deployment the vessel encountered eight-metre waves and 35-knot winds, testing its “robust” construction.
Scientific Goals and Expected Data
Sensors will record wind speed, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, ocean temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and carbon-dioxide concentrations in both water and air. By gathering continuous measurements—including during the polar winter—the mission aims to improve understanding of the Southern Ocean’s role as a carbon sink. The ocean currently absorbs roughly a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions each year, according to CSIRO principal research scientist Dr Elizabeth Shadwick. The data will be streamed to a mission portal in near real time and, after the vessel’s return, undergo quality checks before being released for broader research.
Official Statements & Responses
Dr Shadwick emphasized the necessity of quantifying how oceanic carbon uptake may shift under warming waters, changing westerly winds, melting ice, acidification, and ozone depletion. Professor Matthew England of the University of New South Wales, not involved in the project, called the deployment “an incredible deployment of technology” and stressed that tracking the magnitude of oceanic carbon absorption is critical for assessing future climate-mitigation challenges.
Verbatim Quotes
- “It’s already been bashed around pretty heavily,” — Shadwick, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO
- “The ocean is doing all of us a great service by absorbing about a third of anthropogenic or human emissions every year,” — Shadwick, a principal research scientist at the CSIRO