2021 Arctic Saildrone Cruise Report

Two Saildrone vehicles departed from Dutch Harbor, Alaska on a 90-day cruise per vehicle. Scientific data sampling occurred from 6 July to 20 September 2021, focused primarily on the Chukchi Sea. The science sampling started once the vehicles made it to the Bering Strait. The overall mission objective was to measure atmospheric and oceanographic conditions in Alaskan arctic waters. Scientific objectives include collecting upper ocean temperature profiles with a full suite of ocean measurements, which could lead to significant improvements in the modeling of diurnal warming. Additionally, these new data will provide additional Arctic SST observations to benefit SST satellite remote sensing algorithm development and validation, and will collect additional data for studies of air- sea-ice interactions