http://ozreport.com/12.166#3

http://ozreport.com/toc.php?13.064#3

NY Times article
here.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two robotic sailboats trace lawn-mower-style
paths across the violent surface of the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska. The
boats are counting fish — haddock, to be specific — with a fancy version of the
fish finder sonar you’d find on a bass fishing boat.

About 2,500 miles away, Richard Jenkins, a mechanical engineer and part-time
daredevil, is tracking the robot sailboats on a large projection screen in an
old hangar that used to be part of the Alameda Naval Air Station. Now the hangar
is the command center of a little company called Saildrone.

The Saildrone’s carbon fiber sail acts like an aircraft wing. When air passes
over it, thrust is created. The sail is stabilized by a counterweight that is
placed in front of it and a tab trailing behind it that can automatically make
small corrections to make sure it maintains an efficient angle to the wind.
Underneath the boat are both a rudder to aid in steering and a keel, which will
right the boat if it is knocked over.

Mr. Jenkins has a much grander vision. He believes the missing piece of the
puzzle to definitively comprehend the consequences of global warming is
scientific data. He envisions a fleet of thousands or even tens of thousands of
his 23-foot sailboats creating a web of sensors across the world’s oceans.