This drone captured scenes inside deadly Hurricane Beryl. Data helps forecast – San Bernardino Sun

NOAA receives data on surface hurricane conditions from a growing fleet of Saildrone Explorer drones, which are sent out each hurricane season. (Ryan Ballogg/Bradenton Herald/TNS)

Claire Grunewald | Miami Herald (TNS)

MIAMI — Amid the 25-foot waves and ferocious winds of devastating Hurricane Beryl, one 23-foot neon orange sailboat-like contraption stood out against the dark ocean water, taking a front-row seat in the eye of the storm. The object in question wasn’t a boat that had drifted too close to the storm, but an unmanned hurricane drone called Saildrone Explorer.

Unlike boats or planes with people inside them, the Saildrone Explorer can stay afloat in the eye of a hurricane — and send back photos and data to help scientists forecast storms. Last week, it flew into Hurricane Beryl while it was a Category 4 storm south of Puerto Rico.

According to Saildrone Inc., the drone captured the edge of the hurricane and caused waves more than 25 feet high and wind gusts of 53.48 knots (about 61 miles per hour).

The device is one of the latest innovations in hurricane data collection. It can collect important air and sea data from storms and is capable of withstanding the strongest of them, as seen in Hurricane Beryl, which eventually advanced to Category 5, becoming the earliest storm to reach that category on record.

“You have to be pretty lucky to get a hurricane. That’s one of the benefits of saildrones,” said Greg Foltz, principal investigator for saildrone research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We can actually move them around and get a lot more data by moving them into the path of hurricanes.”

The drone is one of 12 Saildrones that will be deployed this hurricane season to collect data for NOAA. Saildrones are 1,000-pound unmanned ground vehicles (USVs) powered by wind and solar energy.

According to Jenn Virskus, chief marketing officer at Saildrone Inc., this Saildrone was expected to provide hurricane monitoring data for NOAA starting the first week of August, but it took off early from St. Thomas to intercept Hurricane Beryl.

Foltz said the idea behind Saildrone was to try to take unique measurements at the base of a hurricane, where it meets the ocean surface.

“(That) is very difficult to do and hasn’t been done in the past unless there was an instrument in the path. So the idea was to put something that you could actively point into the path of the hurricane and then continuously measure as the hurricane passed over it,” Foltz said.

Saildrones can collect a range of hurricane data, including wave height, ocean currents and surface air temperature. That data feeds directly into hurricane forecasting and warnings. They were used in dozens of forecasts last hurricane season and were able to warn people about wave heights or ocean rip currents, Foltz said.

One of the Saildrones even holds the world record.

For the first time, the 2024 Guinness Book of World Records recorded the “highest wind speed recorded by a USV,” achieved during Saildrone’s maiden voyage in 2021 during Category 4 Hurricane Sam, where winds reached 125 mph (202 km/h).

Other Hurricane Tracking Devices

Perhaps the most well-known way scientists gather data inside hurricanes is through hurricane chasers. NOAA and the Air Force partner to fly right into the heart of storms, where scientists on board measure all sorts of data that helps feed massive global supercomputer models that predict where storms might form next.

Hurricane hunters have flown at least five missions to Beryl to collect and quality-check storm data before sending it to forecasters. Scientists in the plane drop devices called “dropsondes” into the storm, and the remote devices send important information back to scientists at the National Hurricane Center.

According to Foltz, sailing ships complement these efforts.

“It’s not like we’re going to replace anything that’s already out there collecting data,” Foltz said. “It’s like a big coordination effort when a hurricane hunter flies into a hurricane and we have a glider nearby, so that’s cool.”

NOAA’s other data-collecting devices include a range of technologies that enter the water or remain in the air. For example, underwater gliders collect water-related data such as temperature and salinity.

The Future of Saildrone

Foltz hopes to continue to expand the capabilities of drones. He believes more can be done to get data on things like sea spray, ocean bubbles and better measurements of heat transfer by adding more sensors to drones.

“The main way we imagine this will help people in the long term is to improve the models and evidence of hurricane intensity forecasts for people, give them more time, make them more aware and allow them to evacuate and prepare,” Foltz said.