MIAMI – NOAA has five new helpers in the Atlantic as the statistical peak of hurricane season happens, even with the ongoing lull in activity.
The extra data from five small uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) by UK-based robotics company Oshen called C-Stars is welcome. NOAA partnered with the University of Mississippi and Oshen to launch the robots in the Atlantic Ocean off the U.S. Virgin Islands on Aug. 31.
A Oshen C-Star performs its final tests near shore before being deployed.
(Oshen / NOAA)
The C-Stars look like small, 4-foot-long sailboats and can operate individually or in fleets with two more available in storage for NOAA. C-Stars gather real-time data that can help improve hurricane forecasting, including wind speed, direction, sea surface temperature, air temperature and pressure. The data comes in via satellite to forecasters and scientists.
C-Stars have already operated in the U.S. and Europe, gathering ocean weather and climate data and monitoring marine mammals, but hurricanes are a new objective for these small remotely-operated robots.
“Although C-Stars have navigated storms with towering 24-foot waves, hurricanes are a whole new level of challenge — but if it works, the long-term potential is huge,” Oshen CEO Anahita Laverack said. “We believe that these new, small USVs can move the needle in how we observe and understand hurricanes, while keeping budgets under control.”
Oshen will remotely operate the C-Star fleet through October. Once the C-Stars are recovered in two months, additional video and high-resolution images will be available.
This latest uncrewed mission for NOAA is part of a series of ongoing systems the agency is using to collect weather and ocean data, including the ongoing partnership with Saildrones, deployed to chase down storms in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America.
Hurricane season runs until Nov. 30.
