PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A new technology that will help predict hurricane impacts is coming to St. Pete!
It's a sailboat that will map the ocean-floor in our area over the next month.
"They are really going to contribute to a lot of great science. A lot of improvements to warning about storm surge, hurricane forecasting, and all those things," said Brian Connon with Ocean Mapping and SAILDRONE.
It's not just a sailboat, it's a self-driven sailboat with technology that will help researchers map the ocean floor around Florida.
"48% is unmapped so there's so much we don't know that's under the water, especially in this part of the Gulf," said Connon.
The boat called the SAILDRONE Voyager will spend the next month circling St. Pete using sonar to collect information.
"We know when the sound leaves the boat, then it hits the bottom and gets reflected back, and so by using the time difference of when that happens, that's how you determine the depth of the water," said Connon.
Connon said the sonar paints a picture of everything on the sea floor.
"Looking for habitats, even new corals we don't know about could be wrecks that haven't been discovered," he said.
The information will also be used for hurricane forecasting.
"Everything from being able to model storm surge from hurricanes, how much water will come ashore, where it's going to go, you really have to have that high resolution," said Connon.
The SAILDRONE launched for the first time out of St. Pete on Friday and Connon said soon all of Florida will have critical information that can save lives in future hurricane seasons.
"Really hoping by the end of next year, that all of the mapping will be done. With the mapping done and that data going back to the state," said Connon.
"Let’s help out our community where we can."
A local business owner founded the Hometown Titan Retreat with the aim of encouraging the entire local business community to come together and help as much as they can after devastating hurricanes in 2024.
