Gulf Stream Ocean and Atmosphere Data from 2019 Saildrone Mission

Oceanographic and meteorological data were collected by the Saildrone 1021 unmanned surface vehicle during a near-real-time mission in the North Atlantic Ocean. NOAA NCEI archives the dataset, which captures a 28-day period from January 30 to February 26, 2019. The mission aimed to repeatedly sample cross-current gradients in the Gulf Stream before ending prematurely due to storm damage.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between wind speed/direction and ocean surface temperature/salinity gradients across the Gulf Stream.
• Studying air-sea gas exchange by correlating atmospheric pCO2 measurements with oceanic pCO2 and oxygen data.
• Validating satellite-derived sea surface temperature and salinity products with in-situ measurements from the saildrone.
• Investigating extreme weather events by examining time-series data for air temperature and barometric pressure during the storm that damaged the vehicle.

Strengths

• Includes concurrent atmospheric and subsurface ocean measurements from a single platform.
• Data covers a specific 28-day transect from Newport, Rhode Island, towards the Gulf Stream.
• Collected in near-real-time, supporting operational oceanography applications.

Limitations

• Mission ended prematurely after 28 days due to vehicle damage, limiting temporal coverage.
• Data underwent only limited initial quality control, requiring user validation.
• Spatial coverage is restricted to the vehicle's specific, non-complete transect path.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0212656).

Collection Method

In-situ measurements from instruments mounted on the Saildrone 1021 unmanned surface vehicle.

Time Range

2019-01-30 to 2019-02-26.

Freshness

Data collection ended on 2019-02-26; no ongoing updates expected.

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean, along a trajectory from Newport, Rhode Island, towards the Gulf Stream.