Unprecedented Ocean Mission Unveils Groundbreaking Discovery with Global Implications

Saildrone, a California-based technology startup, has completed a historic, crewless mission to map over 17,000 square miles of the previously unknown ocean floor around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the California coast. The mission was undertaken by the Saildrone Surveyor, which took 52 days to map the area around the Aleutian Islands before embarking upon its second mission off the California coast. The missions, which mapped “high priority” areas across “key regions” in high resolution, yielded unexpected discoveries, such as “a previously unknown seamount standing approximately 1,000 meters [3,200 feet] high.”