ROBOT SAILBOATS HUNT SOUTHERN OCEAN CO₂! | NOAA + Columbia launch 5-year COCO2 fleet from Hobart to close the carbon-sink data gap

NOAA and Columbia Climate School launched COCO2 — Constraining Ocean Carbon with Optimized Observing — a five-year campaign of four Saildrone uncrewed surface vehicles to measure carbon in the Southern Ocean, State of the Planet reported Sept. 24, 2026.

Led by Adrienne Sutton (NOAA PMEL) and Galen McKinley (Columbia Lamont), the first USV left Hobart, Australia this week, with additional vehicles every three months until four are operating. The Southern Ocean covers roughly one-third of the world’s ocean surface; oceans absorb about 30% of anthropogenic CO₂. Each deployment is expected to cover more than 24,000 km.

Partners include the University of Washington, CSIRO, AAPP, CSIR/SOCCO, Schmidt Sciences, and Saildrone. Data will feed the Global Carbon Budget and Paris Agreement tracking — filling a notorious observing gap where ships rarely go and carbon fluxes still swing big uncertainties.

Sources: Columbia Climate School / State of the Planet