Saildrone Arctic 2022: Ocean and Atmosphere Data from Uncrewed Vehicles

Two Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles, SD-1041 and SD-1046, collected a 60-day multivariate dataset in the Bering and Chukchi Seas from 18 June to 17 August 2022. The mission, in collaboration with the Distributed Biological Observatory, gathered near real-time surface ocean and atmospheric data along specific transect lines. Measurements likely include air temperature, wind, waves, seawater temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, and near-surface currents from 300 kHz ADCPs.

Use Cases

• Analyzing air-sea heat and momentum fluxes based on concurrent measurements of wind speed, air temperature, and sea surface temperature.
• Tracking biogeochemical changes in Arctic waters based on chlorophyll fluorescence and dissolved oxygen data.
• Mapping near-surface current patterns and water mass properties using ADCP data alongside temperature and salinity profiles.
• Validating satellite-derived ocean and atmospheric products using high-quality, in-situ surface observations.
• Studying the spatial progression of the summer sea ice edge retreat using transect data from DBO lines 3, 4, and 5.

Strengths

• Multivariate data collection from a coordinated two-vehicle campaign covering distinct geographic transects.
• High-frequency, near real-time observations from autonomous platforms capable of 12-month missions.
• Specific mission collaboration with the established Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) network.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing or conflicting: row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided across platforms.
• The dataset's license is listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit details.
• Platforms disagree on the 'last updated' date (2022-08 17 vs. 2026-04-09), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

POCLOUD (as listed on NASA Earthdata)

Collection Method

Data gathered by two autonomous Saildrone USVs (SD-1041, SD-1046) equipped with instrument suites.

Time Range

18 June 2022 to 17 August 2022

Freshness

2026-04 09 22:46:20.169650

Geography

Bering and Chukchi Seas, Alaskan Arctic waters, following DBO lines 3, 4, and 5.