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Ocean drone captures video from inside a hurricane
- j10c 5y ago@dang, hey please reset word wraping in title, its causing word break in most of the titles in mobile which reduces speed of checking them quickly.
- occams_chainsaw 5y agoare you speed reading?
- j10c 5y agoI generally skip words to increase my speed. If anything interesting is spotted, I dive deep into it. Its just a learned habit by consistent reading of decade. though not as fast as speed readers, It saves a lot of time.
- DavidPeiffer 5y agoRegardless of reading style, it's pretty choppy to read "Ocean drone captures video from inside a hurr icane"
- wiz21c 5y agoIn the article they say there are 50feet waves. But it's hard to appreciate that on the video. Is there a way to better look at these picture to get a better sense of the scale ?
- AYBABTME 5y agoWave height/sea state is notoriously difficult to present on video in a way that renders justice. I think it's due to lack of gimbal and probably focal length vs. field of view, and lack of depth perception.
- dredmorbius 5y agoLack of horizon, lack of depth, lack of sense of motion, and lack of anything to measure scale against, all make video incapable of conveying true scale. Though when you can get those elements together, the result is gut-clenching. What does it for me is Big Wave surfing at Nazare. Camera's on land, horizon is fixed, motion is clear, and the ant on the face itself gives perspective. I almost have the opposite problem, the image registers as synthetic or manipulated, even when it isn't: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pZTx0XBx4hk https://youtube.com/watch?v=pZTx0XBx4hk
- boringg 5y agoThats why there's always debate how big a surfers wave was, and then how do you measure from the front or the back?
- rossjudson 5y agoStick a wave-height vertical ruler in front of the camera at a calibrated distance, and read them off ;)
- thanatos519 5y agoIf you look closely there is a banana visible in the ocean for a couple of seconds.
- bjarneh 5y agoI agree; it almost looks like some random heavy sea footage from an exterior camera in that "Deadliest catch" show.
- Arnt 5y agoYou don't really see much in real life either. I've been in 10m waves, and didn't see much. The waves breaking over the entire boat is something I remember very clearly, but not from seeing. It just looked chaotic.
- DrBazza 5y agoWell, the Draupner Wave brushed the under side of an oil rig, if that helps. That was a rogue wave and they get a lot higher. There are also the opposite - rogue holes - the trough part of a wave. Imagine being in a boat and dropping 100ft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave
- jacquesm 5y agoMakes you wonder how many ships got lost before structural integrity improved to the point where a ship would survive that kind of impact.
- eightails 5y agoThere was an interesting article in Quanta a while back on this topic. > Researchers have since determined that rogue waves probably claimed 22 supercarriers and more than 500 lives in the second half of the 20th century alone. https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-grand-unified-theory-of-rogue-waves-20200205/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-grand-unified-theory-of-r...
- christophilus 5y agoI was thinking, this would rock in 3D/VR.
- themeiguoren 5y agoYeah, I would love this camera setup to be upgraded to a stereo pair.
- Disruptive_Dave 5y agoHighly recommend HBO's new mini series (documentary) about big wave surfing [0]. Lots of heavy wave action in it and they delve into the very unscientific manner in which surfers and surfing orgs "measure" these monsters. [0] https://www.hbo.com/100-foot-wave https://www.hbo.com/100-foot-wave
- lorepieri 5y agoYou can estimate the wave size using the Beaufort scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
- ralusek 5y agoCool footage, but I find it very hard to believe that there has never been footage from inside a hurricane. Is this constrained by some strange definition of what it means to be "inside?"
- GeorgeRichard 5y ago> the first video footage gathered by an uncrewed surface vehicle (USV)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- teekert 5y agoI was even a tad disappointed. I was expecting a sudden clearing in the clouds, the sun serenely shining down, and the sounds of distant angels singing before the little boat would hit a dark storm-wall on the other side, entering the chaos again. Expectations really taint one's experience in matters like these.
- amelius 5y agoYes, some movies depict the "eye" of the hurricane like that. Wikipedia has this to say: > Though the eye is by far the calmest part of the storm, with no wind at the center and typically clear skies, on the ocean it is possibly the most hazardous area. In the eyewall, wind-driven waves all travel in the same direction. In the center of the eye, however, the waves converge from all directions, creating erratic crests that can build on each other to become rogue waves. The maximum height of hurricane waves is unknown, but measurements during Hurricane Ivan when it was a Category 4 hurricane estimated that waves near the eyewall exceeded 40 m (130 ft) from peak to trough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_(cyclone)
- alkonaut 5y agoAs impressive as navigating and sailing autonomously is, I’m most impressed by the construction of a camera where the lens isn’t completely sprayed with water while in a storm.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI wonder if it's got a Clear View Screen [1] at an offset in front of it, the round window thing you see in ships. Basically a round pane that they spin really fast, throwing any water off right away. Shameless plug of a youtube channel I enjoy, here's a guy installing one of those in their CNC machine to make better footage [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAnOheWHEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAnOheWHEA
- conductr 5y agoI was also wishing it had some form of gimbal/stabilization, I think it would help visually to put the wave sizes into perspective. Maybe not, I don't know much about video stuff
- kuu 5y agoProbably it doesn't add any scientific value, but I was expecting sound with the video (even if it all is noise)
- comeonseriously 5y agoIt probably would sound like noise. Hurricanes are interesting to listen to, though. The banshee wails of the winds as another band comes through. The low growling/humming sound when it is otherwise quiet between bands. The wet, snapping of death coming to a tree.
- guenthert 5y agoYes, if they put a microphone on a Mars rover, why not on an ocean going drone? A microphone deep in the water might be nice too (and I would be very surprised if they don't have those for applications in marine biology and military).
- nearbottom 5y agoHere's a nice article [1] on underwater sound in extreme storms, note in the referenced paper [2] they managed to deploy a hydrophone under 10 m waves and 40 m/s winds! This type of research is largely military funded, not for its direct applications but more because sound is so fundamental to everything a navy does. There are also civilian applications for measuring waves, wind and rain, either in extreme conditions like [2] or where a surface buoy is impractical (e.g. in locations where surface buoys tend to get stolen or broken). It's definitely a case where one person's "noise" is another person's "signal". I too am a bit surprised saildrone didn't have a hydrophone on their rig, maybe they did but the sound is not so interesting for the press release. [1] https://acoustics.org/what-can-we-learn-from-breaking-wave-noise-grant-b-deane/ https://acoustics.org/what-can-we-learn-from-breaking-wave-n... [2] https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/phoc/44/10/jpo-d-14-0040.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/phoc/44/10/jpo-d-...
- throwawaysea 5y agoThey footage is very cool, and also terrifying. Is the SailDrone designed in some special way to avoid capsizing in such extreme conditions? For that matter what do regular (amateur) boaters do if their sailboat or motorized boat get caught in a bad storm on the open ocean?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- EdwardDiego 5y agoFrom what I recall, it's designed with a "hurricane wing"[1]. As for regular yachts - drop a drogue, run before the storm with a bare minimum of sails up to maintain steering ability, try to keep the waves on your stern. [1]: https://www.saildrone.com/news/tropical-atlantic-hurricane-mission-launch https://www.saildrone.com/news/tropical-atlantic-hurricane-m...
- unwind 5y agoTheir vechicle technology page [1] has some details about the design, with pictures of the underwater parts too. It seems to be a combination of the rigid sail, the crossing "spar", and some sub-surface features. Also surprised at the scale of the things, the smallest model is 7 m (23 ft) long, the largest is a whopping 22 m (72 feet). Pretty cool things! [1]: https://www.saildrone.com/technology/vehicles https://www.saildrone.com/technology/vehicles
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- occams_chainsaw 5y agoFor that matter what do regular (amateur) boaters do if their sailboat or motorized boat get caught in a bad storm on the open ocean? They footage IS very cool, for that matter what do EXPERIENCED boaters do if their sailboat or motorized boat get caught in a bad storm?
- 5y ago
- krisoft 5y agoThe date of the video is the most impressive to me here. It says “Sept. 30, 2021” both as the date of the article and the date of the video. If this is not a mistake that means they managed to deliver the video from the hurricane to the internet in less than 24 hours. Why is this impressive? Either they beamed it out through satelites, which is notoriously hard from an unstable platform on big waves, or they recovered the saildrone and obtained the footage directly which is equally impressive in or around a hurricane. All around if the dating of the footage is correct it is very impressive to me.
- Jenk 5y agoI was just thinking to myself that maybe it's my age or something but the fact that I am sat a thousand miles away watching a video, on my phone, from inside a hurricane that was recorded, edited, and published all in less than a day, is one of those "I'm living in the future, aren't I?" Moments.
- dredmorbius 5y agoWatching dashcam video footage of the Chelyabinsk meteorite a few hours after it had first been reported, on my smartphone, sitting in the garage after a grocery run, was it for me.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoWatching it live was more impressive than videos, and the BOOM was really shaking. (I actually live in Chelyabinsk)
- dredmorbius 5y agoI prefer living in my future at a distance ;-) That must have been absolutely amazing. Did you see the initial airburst itself? What were your thoughts / how would you describe your reaction as the event unfolded?
- clementmas 5y agoThat reminded me of my team rowing across the Atlantic ocean but watching the storm video again doesn't seem that impressive in comparison: https://youtu.be/3barM5C7ecg?t=184 https://youtu.be/3barM5C7ecg?t=184
- jacquesm 5y agoI'm seriously impressed you pulled that off in something that small. I know that people have done it in smaller boats but rowing a vessel in waves many times the length of the ship must present some pretty interesting challenges.
- clementmas 5y agoOur 9m boat was surprisingly stable even in 6m waves. As long as you don't rotate sideways the risk of capsizing is pretty low
- jacquesm 5y agoAh 9m, ok, that's bigger than it looked on the video. As long as the boat is longer than the waves you are dealing with you should be relatively stable.
- hef19898 5y agoYou are, still pretty scary at first. I tried our kayak for the first time this summer at sea, maybe 1 m waves or so. Boat is 5 odd meters, and at first it fleet scary, was fun afterwards so! Quite a change after lakes, rivers and maybe some wind at most. Being sideways, you have to return at some point, was adventurous for a noon at sea kayaking like myself!
- Ronson 5y agoWow that is an amazing achievement, those waves are scary, especially being so far from assistance in such a small boat. Did you manage the whole journey without major issue?
- 5y ago
- anuvrat1 5y agoFor sure movies have distorted my perception of danger these waves are supposed to be deadly Tbh was expecting some sort of mayhem
- 1cvmask 5y agoCarried out by NOAA which is part of the Department of Commerce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospheric_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oceanic_and_Atmospher...
- nanna 5y agoNot being funny but that's pretty much what it looks like on a typical winter's day wherabouts I live (England).
- jve 5y agoI actually had the expectation that Eye of the hurricane is pretty calm. Doesn't look like. And then I wonder what happens on the edge of the hurricane...
- jagged-chisel 5y agoBut this footage is not from within the eye.
- sergers 5y agois it not? i assumed it was the eye with the title "inside a huricane" other sites: "For first time ever, drone sent into eye of Cat. 4 hurricane" the article outlines footage from inside the hurricane.
- jameshart 5y ago‘Inside a hurricane’ could very well mean either ‘inside the envelope around a hurricane where wind speeds exceed hurricane force’, ‘inside the eye wall of a hurricane’, rather than ‘inside the eye of a hurricane’. If someone tells you there’s jam inside a donut do you complain that the hole through the middle appears to contain no jam?
- jagged-chisel 5y ago> the article outlines footage from inside the hurricane. Further the article has a video showing the location of the drone in the storm, pretty far from the eye.
- axpy906 5y agoThat does not look like an eye due to darkness. Waves would be a bit calmer too as the wind would die.
- scandox 5y agoI don't know why but I find watching extreme weather very calming. I feel almost hypnotized watching that video. I notice that there are a lot of videos on Youtube of stormy weather which people use to help them sleep. So I guess this is part of that same phenomenon.
- TedShiller 5y agoNeat. But what happens to this drone after the hurricane, or when it stops phoning home due to UV damage, drained batteries, or gunked up solar cells? Does it just become another member of the Great Garbage Patch?
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- JoachimS 5y agoI really didn't grasp the size of that drone. It is not a little model boat, it is a ship. This video shows it being launched, and includes images of what it looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ-uYy9Ap8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ-uYy9Ap8A
- ezzaf 5y agoThat's a larger model, this is the earlier Saildrone Explorer mentioned in that video. The vessel they are launching is 72 feet long, this one is 23 feet. So not a model boat, but not large either.
- fho 5y agoCould somebody please TL;DR the wing design (of the big boat) for me? The one with the additional extra wing?
- maxerickson 5y agoThe hurricane wing? It's smaller. https://www.saildrone.com/news/tropical-atlantic-hurricane-mission-launch https://www.saildrone.com/news/tropical-atlantic-hurricane-m...
- fho 5y agoAh ok ... no I was asking about the full size wing with that second wing attached to it.
- m4tthumphrey 5y agoI genuinely feel quite terrified just watching that first video.
- LightG 5y agoOf course, absolutely impressive. But the inside of the storm looks like some huge waves crashing all around. Am I missing the lightbulb moment? Maybe a potential pivot to sell Saildrone to storm-chasing, surfer, adrenaline junkies. That'd be one helluva ride!
- dennis_jeeves 5y agoI fail to see it too. Looks like what one would expect inside a hurricane really.
- krzcinski 5y agoIt's incredible that such a small thing can sail in this conditions.
- guenthert 5y agoI'd think it's robust enough to withstand a couple turn overs. Capsizes, my apologies, land rat here.
- aleksandrh 5y agoI really hope drones continue to be used for good, rather than blowing people up from the comfort of a gaming chair.
- Noumenon72 5y agoSneaking in under cover of hurricane for a first strike.
- zz865 5y agoIts a cool project, but the footage isn't that great. Youtube has a bunch of bigger storm & wave footage from ships.
- qwertyuiop_ 5y agoI always wondered how the seas looked inside the hurricane. Thanks to technology someone accomplished this.
- marcodiego 5y agoMakes me remember of twister and an era when we had SGI.
- jcun4128 5y agoThese drones are so cool, saw them in a Bloomberg video. I hope to get into that one day even just on my own in my creek/pond (submarine type).
- comeonseriously 5y agoI would love to see it annotated with numerical data that it is collecting, like how high the waves are, how fast the winds are, etc.
- fullwaza 5y agoDisappointing. No shark-nado or laser beams anywhere.
- ape4 5y agoSci-fi: the hurricane takes it back in time to the 1400s. It sails over to Europe and videos Columbus leaving for the new world.
- bookofjoe 5y agoGo deeper: The Vikings departing c. 1000
- alistairSH 5y agoInfo from the manufacturer: https://www.saildrone.com https://www.saildrone.com If I'm reading correctly, NOAA is using the smallest of the three current models.
- guenthert 5y agoThe article states that they used five specially designed drones. I thought that means that those are different then three products listed on saildrones' website. The one in NOAA's article looks a bit more sturdy (more compact sail) than the small model.
- joshuahughes 5y agoUnderstandable but disappointing that there's no sound. I filled the silence with a 'hurricane wind' track from Spotify, because I'm sad like that... https://open.spotify.com/episode/1p7ZN5APoqPzF2YSkH9vqP https://open.spotify.com/episode/1p7ZN5APoqPzF2YSkH9vqP
- andrew_ 5y agoHaving been in 8 foot seas on a small craft, this video is terrifying and astounding all in one.
- WaitWaitWha 5y agoThis is a travesty! I want names! Each one of these drones should have a name! If a cyclone can get her name, why not the drone that went through the cyclone?! Therefore Saildrone Explorer SD 1045 from here on is named Tippy McTipity. Cheers to Tippy! Well done. (Pay attention Ms. Allen. The NOAA could use a good public naming promo for any other drones that did cool stuff!)
- wwalexander 5y agoVery cool, but obviously hard to tell scale. Does anyone with more expertise have an idea of how large those swells/waves might be? Edit, after RTFA: > SD1045 is battling 50 foot waves
- ebcase 5y agoIf you're in the SF Bay Area and want to see these in-person, Saildrone HQ is in Alameda: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Saildrone/@37.7829877,-122.3069259,17z/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/Saildrone/@37.7829877,-122... (I don't think they have public tours, but I could be wrong) Usually you can spot the drones in Seaplane Lagoon, and the water nearby.
- programmarchy 5y agoThe video is cool, but seems like the real value is what the sensors are picking up.
- rgrs 5y agoEye of the storm is not calm?
- rossjudson 5y agoI know next to nothing about submarines. I keep wondering, what's it like for a submarine that surfaces into the middle of a hurricane? Obviously it's going to get more "nautical" as the sub approaches the surface (and the waves)...but how much does a submarine care about severe weather, while it's on/near the surface? Or does it just "convert" into a boat that's currently floating?
- jwilk 5y agoDirect link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQM_03zuSAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQM_03zuSAI
- cbm-vic-20 5y agoThis is some "mission to Planet Earth" stuff!