Adventures of Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Float
At Seatrec, we push the boundaries of ocean technology with groundbreaking launches across the globe. From the shores of Kona, Hawai’i, to the depths of Monterey Bay, the coast of San Diego, and into the Gulf of Mexico, our innovative infiniTE™ Floats are making waves. In just six months, our Hawai’i float completed an impressive 741 profiles, while our Gulf float achieved 133 profiles in just over a month. We also tested a hydrophone float in Monterey Bay and our very first directional hydrophone float in San Diego. Both of these can unlock new opportunities in soundscape monitoring. With hurricane season in full force, we’re aiming to help predict hurricane rapid intensification through real-time temperature measurements, especially below the surface. The ocean is talking, and we’re listening.
This Deep Dive’s highlights:
- Hawai’i, Monterey, San Diego, and Gulf of Mexico deployments
- Signature awards from AMS and MTS
- News and podcasts from WLOX, NASA, and The Founder’s Way
- Latest additions to our Team and Advisory Board
⏱️Measuring the Ocean in New Ways
Rapid profiling like never before: Advances in oceanic data collection require persistent power. By harvesting energy from ocean temperature differences, our infinTE™ Float generates more power than it consumes.
🌡️Measure Early and Often: Frequent sampling of upper ocean conditions can significantly improve weather predictions. This is especially crucial when measuring rapid hurricane intensification (defined as an increase of ~35 mph in maximum sustained winds within 24 hours.) We deployed our Gulf float just south of Destin, Florida, to depths up to 1000 meters. The float’s path indicated a strong coastal current following the ocean floor traveling northwest of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The float then headed south after the hurricanes passed. With each deployment, we’re not just gathering data; we’re working to protect lives and communities by enhancing the accuracy of critical weather forecasts.
Off the coast of Kona, Hawai’i, one of our floats completed an impressive 741 profiles in just six months, revealing significant mesoscale eddy activity. Based on Iridium data, the float continues to profile, though a communications bug has limited our ability to download the float data. Despite this, our mission to harness the power of the ocean for deeper insights continues.
🐋 Soundscape Monitoring with a New Platform: Our partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey has resulted in an entirely new modality for marine monitoring — our infiniTE™ Float equipped with an icListen OceanSonics hydrophone. NPS’ John “JJ” Joseph calls it the “Persistent Smart Acoustic Profiler (PSAP),” a new lightweight ocean soundscape monitoring platform with infinite endurance and near real-time reporting capability. Early whale call data are very encouraging as the PSAP was comparable with the Monterey Accelerated Research System’s (MARS) cabled observatory. The future of profiling floats in marine mammal tracking is on the verge of a major transformation.
🌊Directional Hydrophone on infiniTE™ Float
Funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration and in collaboration with Integral Consulting, Seatrec successfully completed the first deployment of an infiniTE™ Float equipped with a directional hydrophone, off the coast of San Diego. Over a period of 24 hours, this directional hydrophone float surfaced three times after listening missions parked at a depth of 400 meters. This portable and low-cost float enables sustained exploration of poorly understood soundscapes in the ocean.
Not familiar with our infiniTE™ Float? Check out our YouTube video and follow our floats here.
🏆 Dr. Yi Chao Named as an AMS Fellow
We are incredibly proud of our CEO and Founder, Dr. Yi Chao, as he has been named a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). This prestigious honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences over many years, reflecting his dedication and impact in advancing these critical fields. From his pioneering research on El Niño to the NASA Aquarius Mission to founding Seatrec, Yi has dedicated his career to helping us better understand our Blue Planet.
⚓Marine Technology Society Award
We are honored to receive the 2024 Marine Technology Society Compass Organizational Excellence Award. This prestigious recognition is given to organizations making outstanding contributions to the advancement of marine science and technology. Seatrec was recognized for revolutionizing ocean data collection, making it possible to map the global seafloor within this decade, and unlock new opportunities for soundscape monitoring and improved hurricane predictions. All of these address critical challenges in ocean science.
🌊 OCEANS 2024 in Halifax
OCEANS 2024 in Halifax was an epic conference for Seatrec. Our NPS Partner JJ presented our PSAP study, and Yi was also on a panel entitled “Sound Advice: Understanding Underwater Radiated Noise for Oceanic Sustainability," discussing the relationship between the technology, applications, and avenues for the mitigation of underwater radiated noise. You can view the talk on YouTube.
📺 TV Appearance on WLOX and more!
Yi Chao has been actively engaging with the media, spotlighting Seatrec’s innovations. He appeared on WLOX TV to discuss our testing float device at USM, aimed at enhancing hurricane intensity forecasts through ocean data collection. NASA Spinoff also chronicled Seatrec’s journey, from its origins at JPL to becoming a pioneering startup. In addition, Yi was featured on several podcasts, including The Founder’s Way by Sunstone Management and Ocean Synchro, sharing the latest developments in our ocean technology.
⚓ Expanding our Advisory Board
As Seatrec expands into dual-use markets, we’ve strengthened our advisory board by adding three industry leaders from the policy and military sectors. Johan Bergenas, Senior Vice President of Oceans at the World Wildlife Fund, joins as a sustainability advisor, bringing extensive expertise in technology, policy, and conservation. Additionally, Jason Stack, former Deputy Director of the Navy’s Unmanned Task Force at the Pentagon, and Rear Admiral John Neagley (Retired) are joining to contribute their deep knowledge of defense, research, and the Blue Economy.
👨💻Welcome, Grant Thomas (Conqueror of Languages)
Meet Grant Thomas, Seatrec’s new team member! As a Software Engineer, Grant supports the development and visualization of engineering and scientific data from our subsea robots. His background blends a unique combination of linguistic expertise with software engineering. Grant speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and English. His journey took an exciting turn when he dove into software languages, mastering JavaScript. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Saint Louis University in Madrid and a Master’s Degree from the University of Cambridge. When he’s not coding, you can find him playing rock guitar or enjoying a long-distance run.
Taking Ocean Data to New Depths & Dimensions
As a deeptech ocean startup, we continue to expand the possibilities for ocean research and military communities, especially in this era of critical demand for ocean data. With AI, edge computing, and thermal energy harvesting, our infiniTE™ Float is opening up new opportunities for collecting data. We’re excited to partner with more sensor companies measuring everything from whale activity to zooplankton movements, deepening our understanding of marine life and eavesdropping on the sounds of the ocean. After all, when it comes to the ocean, sound is everything.
-Seatrec
