In the wake of recent hurricane damage, St. Pete officials and maritime businesses are ramping up efforts to mitigate storm surge impacts and ensure the city’s longevity. Saildrone—a maritime defense and oceanographic survey company operating out of the Maritime Defense and Technology Hub in the Innovation District—has deployed two 10-meter, solar-powered Saildrone Voyager uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) on a mission to map 2,817 square kilometers of Florida’s coastal waters, approximately 130 km northwest of St. Pete.
This mission is part of the Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative (FSMI), which aims to obtain high-resolution seafloor data by 2028, replacing outdated nautical charts. The new data will be vital for scientific research, emergency management, and response efforts, providing stakeholders with a better understanding of Florida’s vulnerabilities and hurricane impact.
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“As a member of the St. Petersburg community, we are excited to contribute to a project that seeks to improve our coastal resilience and enhance our ability to predict storm surge impacts by providing high-resolution bathymetry,” said Brian Connon, Saildrone VP of Ocean Mapping. “Saildrone USVs efficiently and safely collect high-resolution bathymetric data while minimizing environmental impact.”
Saildrone to gather hurricane data in April
According to their press release, this is the first time Saildrone has deployed Voyager USVs—equipped with NORBIT WINGHEAD i80s echo sounders for high-resolution mapping, along with radar, AIS, and cameras for maritime domain awareness—out of Tampa Bay. Saildrone has previously deployed Voyager USVs for the US 4th Fleet out of Key West and currently supports Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) and US Naval Forces Southern Command/US Navy Fourth Fleet (NAVSOUTH/FOURTHFLT) operations in the Caribbean.
While the current mission focuses on mapping the ocean floor, Saildrone’s next deployment in mid-April will concentrate on gathering critical hurricane storm data. The April deployment is a federally funded project with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which will have broad impacts on hurricane forecasting. Both missions are essential as Florida faces unprecedented environmental challenges.
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