Like The Odyssey, But For Drones

A startup’s robot sailboat just returned from Antarctica with some troubling climate clues.

- Ashlee Vance

The robot sailboat is called #1020. It’s a lackluster moniker for a machine that just spent seven months battling its way through 12,500 miles of frigid, massive waves to circumnavigate Antarctica. The robot, made by startup Saildrone, is the first of its kind to complete the harrowing journey. More important, it’s the only scientific vehicle to have captured such a detailed environmental picture of the state of the Southern Ocean, bringing back data that could be key to our understanding of climate change.

Scientists have long viewed the Southern Ocean as a major carbon sink, meaning it pulls carbon dioxide out of the air and pushes it deep underwater. About 40% of the 2.5 billion tons of carbon the ocean absorbs every year is thought to make its way into the waters around Antarctica, says Bronte Tilbrook, a scientist who studies the region on behalf of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. This process helps in removing carbon dioxide that causes warming in the atmosphere, although it also contributes to increasing ocean acidity. The truth, though, is that scientists know precious little about exactly how the Southern Ocean operates, because it’s been such a difficult spot to measure.