Sofar Ocean

10/22/2026

A Sofar Spotter in the Philippine Sea sat in the path of Typhoon Champi, Oct 17 to 21, and kept transmitting as the storm closed in. Significant wave height at the buoy climbed from under 2 m to 11.6 m (38 ft) as Champi closed in at 110 kt.

How Spotters hold up in extreme conditions: https://hubs.ly/Q04C1hsl0

Track: JMA via Digital Typhoon. Imagery: NASA GIBS / Himawari-9. Waves: Sofar Spotter.

10/21/2026

In this episode, Ryan Hamley and Sarah Moss show how Wayfinder’s new instant route simulation lets captains adjust the engine at any waypoint and instantly see how cost, arrival time, and weather change along the route.

Watch to see it in action, then read the full story on our blog: https://hubs.ly/Q04BQYHK0

10/20/2026

Anna Savage, Physical Oceanographer and Research Scientist at Sofar Ocean, explains Kelvin waves: big pulses of water that move warm water across the Pacific and help fuel El Niño.

This winter, that could mean a lot for California. NOAA is forecasting a very strong El Niño, which tends to bring stronger, wetter atmospheric rivers and more rain to the Bay Area. Better ocean data and weather models help communities prepare before it arrives.

Read more on our extreme weather blog: https://hubs.ly/Q04BQ2BC0

Visuals: NASA

10/13/2026

Where were the closest Spotter buoys as Hurricane Isaias crossed the Gulf, Oct 8–10?

Operated by GCOOS partners in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, these buoys kept reporting waves, wind, and sea surface temperature through the storm. Forecasters, emergency managers, and the public used that data in real time, and it will feed the models for the next storm. The Dauphin Island Sea Lab Spotter off Alabama, installed last year at the request of the National Weather Service, sat directly in Isaias’s track.

See the data from Spotters that reported through the storm:

Mississippi State University:
- https://data.gcoos.org/station_details.php?station=SPOT_33439C
- https://data.gcoos.org/station_details.php?station=SPOT_33441C

WAVCIS CSI07
- https://data.gcoos.org/station_details.php?station=CSI07

How Spotters hold up in extreme conditions worldwide: https://hubs.ly/Q04B0XD30

Thank you to GCOOS and its partners for keeping these assets in the water.

10/12/2026

Meet Solan, a software engineer at Sofar Ocean, who made Wayfinder’s vessel performance models accurate from day one. 🚢

When a ship is chartered one day and sails the next, there’s no voyage history to learn from. Solan’s work lets Wayfinder model a brand-new vessel with far less data, with 2.7× more accurate fuel predictions on Day Zero.

Watch to hear how Solan built it, and what genre of music this update would be. 🎶

Sno Riley, our Software Engineering Manager, explains how the team did it in her new blog post: https://hubs.ly/Q04zYz830

10/12/2026

10/07/2026

Run your own routing with Wayfinder Explore. 🚢

Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q04znH4q0

10/06/2026

Our webinar is tomorrow: Real-Time Ocean Data in the Pacific, Tuesday at 3:00 PM PT 🌊

Join Sāmoa Meteorological Service live to hear how the Spotter network they deployed with SPREP is strengthening marine warnings and safety at sea, with Q&A at the end.

Tuesday, October 6th · 3:00 PM PT
Wednesday, October 7th · 11:00 AM Samoa

Can't make it live? Register anyway and we'll send the recording.
Register: https://bit.ly/3TH3E6U

10/05/2026

We cut a ton of power from Spotter Sound. 🔊

Next Gen Spotter Sound uses less than half the power of the original, even while running detection models at the edge. That means always-on listening in more places, with real-time detection of vessels, marine mammals, and more, all on the same solar budget. 🌤

Read Matt Krause's blog on how we did it: https://bit.ly/4hNrVQR