Mission duration: 2 months

This mission was conducted by Offshore Sensing summer 2016. The mission objective of the SailBuoy was to investigate the Sailbuoys performance as a wave buoy in summer conditions. Weather conditions were light to severe. The biggest wave measured was 14.3 m with a significant wave-height of 8 m. After 2 months at sea the SB Wave directed home and retreived at the deployment point.

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Mission duration: 2 months

This mission was conducted by CMR summer 2014. The mission objective of the SailBuoy was to investigate its performance in varying wind and current conditions. It also collected CT and O data during the mission. Weather conditions were light to severe, peaking at 80 knots with 7.5 m waves (direct observation).The sailbuoy survived the conditions was retrieved successfully by a Norwegian Fishing vessel.


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Mission duration: 10 days

This mission was conducted by the Nansen Center in September 2013. The Sailbuoy was to keep a specified distance from the ice edge (around 40 km). As the ice edge moved the Sailbuoys waypoint was updated to follow the ice. The Sailbuoy was equipped with different sensors.

The SailBuoy's position was overlaid a satellite image of the area to determine where it was relative to the ice edge and if the waypoint needed updating. The mission was a success, and controlling the Sailbuoys position relative to the ice edge was easily achieved. 

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The Deep-C Mission

Mission duration: 2 months

The Deep-C's SailBuoy was launched on March 15, 2013 approximately 11 nautical miles (nm) south of Cape San Blas and was retrieved on the 15th of June, 2013. She was at sea for 2 months and acquired conductivity, temperature and oxygen data every hour for the whole period. Weather conditions were mostly light winds, occasionally stronger (30 knots).

The Deep-C consortium focuses on the geomorphologic, hydrologic, and biogeochemical settings that influence the distribution and fate of the oil and dispersants released during the Deepwater Horizon accident, and is using the resulting data for model studies that support improved responses to possible future incidents.

Read more about the mission at the Deep-C consortium webpagethe SailBuoy blog and see the buoy's cruise track in an interactive map.

Ocean surface temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration measurements in the Gulf of Mexico using the Sailbuoy

Mission duration: 3 weeks

For 3 weeks in November 2012 a successful seatrial with the Sailbuoy was conducted in cooperation with the PLOCAN consortium. It was equipped with a conductivity-temperature sensor and an oxygen optode. The main goal of the mission was to sail to the European Station for Time-series in the OCean (ESTOC) site, and demonstrate its navigation and near-surface oceanographic sampling capabilities. ESTOC is an internationally recognized ocean site, and has recently improved its sampling program with unmanned, autonomous underwater and surface vehicles technology (Read more about the mission at the PLOCAN consortium webpage).

 

 Near surface oceanographic measurements using the SailBuoy

Mission duration: 1 month

In July 2011 a past Shetland conducted. The objective of this mission was to investigate the navigational accuracy in strong current conditions. The weather conditions were fair during the mission. The line in purple shows the track the Sailbuoy followed. The track that was defined in this mission had plenty of leeway to give the Sailbuoy room to maneuver. 

Mission duration: 24 hours

In late 2009 a 24 hour sea trial was conducted. During this trial the design of the vessel was verified to work together with the ability to navigate in severe weather conditions. The vessel was able to navigate in +15 m/s winds and over 2 m waves. To our surprise it didn