From “How Far from Reality?” to Real-Time Ocean Observation
The North American Gulf Stream as illustrated with the ECCO model.
Credit: Greg Shirah / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
From “How Far from Reality?” to Real-Time Ocean Observation
How Seatrec CEO Yi Chao’s early Gulf Stream research comes full circle in an infiniTE™ Float mission now more than 500 profiles in, from the Gulf of Mexico to the western North Atlantic
Three decades ago, long before Seatrec existed, our CEO and founder, Yi Chao, was working on one of the hardest problems in physical oceanography: how to model the Gulf Stream realistically as it separates from the U.S. coast near Cape Hatteras. Today, a Seatrec infiniTE™ float is tracing that broader Atlantic system in the real ocean, more than 500 profiles into a mission spanning the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, and the western North Atlantic.
That connection is more than a coincidence. It is the throughline of Yi’s career. During his Ph.D. at Princeton, Yi studied El Niño. After graduate school, he turned to the Gulf Stream because one question kept bothering oceanographers: why couldn’t models reproduce its separation correctly at Cape Hatteras? For years, that gap was more than a technical frustration. It suggested that even advanced ocean models were still missing something essential about North Atlantic circulation.
In 1996, while at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Yi co-authored “Modeling the Gulf Stream System: How Far from Reality?” The paper marked an important advance in showing that the Gulf Stream could be modeled much more realistically than before. It was one of Yi’s earliest papers at JPL and helped establish a question that would shape much of his career.
The title of that paper still resonates with us: How far from reality? In many ways, that question sits at the heart of Seatrec. Yi went on to spend roughly 20 years at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory working in ocean modeling and satellite oceanography before founding Seatrec in 2016. Our core technology originated at NASA JPL / Caltech, and our mission is to make the ocean more continuously observable by solving one of subsea science’s most stubborn constraints: power.
For decades, oceanographers have had to make difficult tradeoffs. Traditional profiling floats are constrained by primary batteries, which limit mission duration, sampling frequency, and payload flexibility. Satellites transformed our view of the surface ocean, but the subsurface ocean, the heat structure, salinity gradients, mixing, and soundscape, remains much harder to observe persistently. That is the gap Seatrec was built to close.
Seatrec’s answer has been to rethink power from the ocean up. Our infiniTE™ platform harvests electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences between warm surface water and colder depths. As the float cycles through the water column, phase-change materials drive a hydraulic system and generator, producing power for repeated profiling and expanded sensing. The result is a long-endurance platform designed to collect more data, more often, with less dependence on battery replacement and ship support.
This 500-profile mission shows what that looks like in practice. The mission began in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, south of Destin, Florida. In its first 49 days, the float completed 160 profiles, diving to depths of up to 800 meters while surfacing to transmit real-time data. Equipped with a CTD and passive acoustic hydrophone, it began building a continuous picture of subsurface temperature, salinity, and underwater sound in a region where seeing below the surface matters for both hurricane forecasting and soundscape monitoring.
After 315 profiles, the float entered the Florida Straits, where the mission shifted from broad Gulf drifting to boundary-current sampling. This narrow, deep, high-energy corridor between the Florida Keys and Cuba funnels flow toward the Atlantic and sharpens vertical and horizontal gradients. In this phase, the float was completing about four profiles per day, creating a much denser record of changing subsurface conditions through one of the most dynamic passages in the western Atlantic.
By 480 profiles, the mission had advanced from the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Straits, up the U.S. East Coast, setting up the next chapter as the float entered the Gulf Stream separation region off Cape Hatteras, the same broader system that defined an early chapter of Yi’s scientific career. What once lived in model grids is now being sampled profile by profile by an autonomous float powered by the ocean’s own thermal gradients.
That is why this milestone feels bigger than a number. Yes, 500 profiles is an operational achievement. But it is also a reminder that the best ocean technology does more than last longer. It changes what is scientifically possible. Seatrec’s milestone is not that this is the first float to sample the Gulf Stream. It is that a thermally powered float is delivering persistent, high-frequency profiling across multiple connected ocean regimes, without the same battery limits that have historically constrained mission duration and sensor use.
Persistent subsurface measurements help reveal the hidden heat structure that can fuel hurricane rapid intensification. They support better understanding of ocean heat transport and water-column structure across connected current systems. And when acoustic sensing is added to the same long-endurance platform, they can also contribute to persistent soundscape monitoring.
For Seatrec, this is a field report. For Yi, it is a full-circle moment. Three decades after asking how far ocean models were from reality, he now leads a company building tools that can stay in that reality longer, profiling through it, transmitting from it, and helping make the ocean more continuously observable. Few scientific careers draw such a direct line from question to platform. This one does.
And the float is still going.
Live tracking: seatrec-floats.com
Data access and collaboration: info@seatrec.com
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Profiling Float Captures First-of-Its-Kind Fine-Scale Ocean Vertical Structure
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Profiling Float Captures First-of-Its-Kind Fine-Scale Ocean Vertical Structure, Powered by Temperature Gradients
A serendipitous meeting between ocean engineers and scientists sparked a new float mission to change how the ocean is measured
VISTA, Calif.— Feb. 23, 2026 — Seatrec, a leader in thermal-powered, long-endurance subsea drones, today announced the successful launch of a collaborative scientific mission to develop new autonomous profiling float capabilities that are powered by the ocean’s temperature differences and collect critical data on ocean health and carbon cycling.
This mission originated from a booth conversation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU)-sponsored Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024 (OSM24), held in New Orleans in February 2024. Seatrec CEO and Founder, Yi Chao, Ph.D., met with Mark Altabet, Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the School for Marine Science & Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Eric A. D’Asaro, Ph.D., Senior Principal Oceanographer of the Applied Physics Laboratory and School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. At the time, Seatrec had recently launched its commercial infiniTE™ float. During discussions, Altabet and D’Asaro explored how the infiniTE float could fundamentally alter sampling strategies for studying turbulence, internal waves, and ocean mixing. That discussion marked the beginning of a co-development effort.
“Data below the ocean surface is significantly lacking because traditional profiling floats are all powered by primary batteries that limit float life and data collection capability,” explained Chao. “The infiniTE float harvests energy from temperature gradients in the ocean, and can therefore collect more frequent measurements and carry new sensors.”
The collaboration resulted in the successful development and deployment of an infiniTE float with two sensors to measure oxygen and total dissolved gas pressure (TDGP), key indicators of ecosystem health, environmental stress, and carbon cycling. The accurate measurement of TDGP requires the float to park at multiple depths and remain at each depth long enough for the sensor to collect reliable measurements.
“This type of mission has never been done before with the existing float products,” said D’Asaro. “The infiniTE float changes the way we think about power in a profiling float. In a battery-powered float, the total energy is fixed, so you try to minimize power usage by minimizing the number of profiles. Since the infiniTE float recharges its battery with the energy harvested from the ocean, there is no power penalty for more profiles.”
“Looking into the future,” said Altabet, “the infiniTE float can be used to profile more rapidly to resolve the diurnal variation of oxygen and its impact on productivity. This could only be done with the infiniTE float in a sustained way.”
This mission builds on Seatrec’s broader efforts to advance long-duration autonomous ocean systems, including a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Naval Postgraduate School focused on enabling persistent, real-time oceanographic and acoustic measurements in open-ocean environments.
Related to this work, Chao will present at this week’s AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, on harvesting energy from ocean temperature gradients to power underwater robots and sensors for persistent monitoring.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower defense and oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce operational costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited in endurance and functionality, such as hydrophones, we open new possibilities for ocean science.
Seatrec’s energy-harvesting core technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spun out of the California Institute of Technology in 2016. Seatrec is headquartered in Vista, California. Visit us at seatrec.com.
About the School for Marine Science & Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
The School for Marine Science & Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (SMAST) is a nationally and internationally recognized institution for education and research in marine science and ocean technology. SMAST is a collaborative community of dedicated students and expert faculty working together to address critical challenges in marine science while fostering a supportive and collegial environment. SMAST students and faculty help address urgent issues facing the world’s oceans, including climate change and ocean impacts, food security via sustainable fisheries, sustainable energy development and associated impacts, and coastal ecosystem resilience.
About the Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington
The University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (APL-UW) was founded by the U.S. Navy in 1943 to conduct acoustic and oceanographic studies on how deep ocean variability affects Navy systems. Today, APL-UW scientists and engineers lead research and applied technologies in acoustic and remote sensing, ocean physics and engineering, medical and industrial ultrasound, polar science and logistics, environmental and information systems, and electronic and photonic systems.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec, Inc.
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-1665
Seatrec and The USM Team to Improve Hurricane Forecasting and Monitor Critically Endangered Rice’s Whale
VISTA, Calif. – WEBWIRE – Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Seatrec, a startup company unlocking clean, renewable power for ocean research and commerce, and the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), today announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at improving hurricane rapid-intensification forecasting and monitoring critically endangered Rice’s whales in the Gulf of Mexico.
The MOU calls for the deployment of two types of Seatrec’s infiniTE™ floats each customized for different missions using the system’s first-of-its-kind modular design and clean, renewable power technology that harvests electricity from the ocean’s temperature differences.
One type of float will feature a suite of instruments to take measurements as frequently as three times per day to track water temperatures and other data that scientists believe contribute to the rapid intensification of hurricanes like Katrina, Irma, and Ian. The second type of float will operate with a passive acoustic hydrophone to monitor the endangered Rice’s whales with less than 100 remaining members of the species clustered in the Gulf’s northeastern waters.
“There is a critical need to better understand the Gulf of Mexico both in terms of its impact on humans in the form of extreme weather events and human impact on the marine life,” points out Yi Chao, Ph.D., the CEO and founder of Seatrec. “Having the flexibility to quickly and inexpensively deploy different mission-specific instrument suites on deep-diving, autonomous floats powered by a clean, renewable power source gives scientists like those at USM important tools to gather data not possible with previous technologies.”
Rice’s whales are members of the baleen whale family Balaenopteridae. With likely fewer than 100 individuals remaining, Rice’s whales are one of the most endangered whales in the world. Recovery of the species depends upon the protection of each remaining whale.
The MOU follows Seatrec’s completion of the six-month Gulf Blue Navigator program that is administered by USM and SeaAhead with partners, including Jackson State University. The program is designed to help scale blue technology startups.
“Power has long been a limiting factor that often restricts the types of instruments deployed in the ocean, how long they can last, and the amount of persistent data they can collect,” explains Dr. Kelly Lucas, USM’s Vice President for Research. “Seatrec’s ability to provide clean, renewable power to vertically integrated and modular instrument suites opens the door to a host of applications that will help us better understand and protect the ocean.”
Added Hailey Bathurst, Program Manager for the Gulf Blue Navigator, “Seatrec exemplifies what the Navigator program is meant to do: help blue tech startups find traction in the Gulf of Mexico, work with the core facilities at USM, and plug into a supportive ecosystem. This MOU and the others being finalized between USM and the inaugural Gulf Blue Navigator cohort members truly represents the potential of the program.”
The Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise serves a global hub for advancing Uncrewed Maritime Systems, ocean data science, maritime cyber research, and blue tech workforce training. The 62,500-square-foot center consists of multiple facilities bringing together federal, industry, and academic partners, creating a collaborative environment to accelerate the development and launch of new technology in the fast-growing ocean economy.
Entrepreneurs and startups developing solutions to global challenges utilize the center to capitalize on world-class ocean research capabilities and connect to university research scientists.
“The Gulf Blue Navigator program has already begun to make an economic impact to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” said Dr. Jason McKenna, Director of Research, Development, Testing, Evaluation & Training at the Wicker Center. “This is the first of many follow-on initiatives between USM’s world-class research centers and the Navigator’s program’s first graduating cohorts and demonstrates the ability of our coastal research ecosystem to partner with and help grow blue technology in Mississippi.”
Seatrec’s pioneering energy harvesting system uses phase change materials to harness energy from temperature differences between the ocean’s various depths. These materials contract and expand creating pressure that’s captured and converted into electricity. The clean, virtually limitless power frees scientists to use sensors that typically require shore-supplied power or direct ship support via tethering. The infiniTE™ float platform’s “plug-and-play” modularity vertically integrates different sensors tailored to particular areas of study.
Hurricane Forecasting
Better understanding the rapid intensification of major storms and hurricanes is a particularly pressing goal as annual economic losses from such storms are estimated at $54B. Traditional floats (commonly known as Argo) typically only profile once every 10 days, which is insufficient to measure the intensification of storms that can surge in as little as 24 hours. Seatrec’s infiniTE™ floats are able to sample as frequently as three times per day providing 30x more data than the standard Argo floats.
Whale Monitoring
Studies show that noise from humans adversely affects a broad range of organisms including marine mammals. Hydrophones are needed to quantify the impact of these noises on marine mammals. Hydrophones mounted on Seatrec’s infiniTE™ floats provide an inexpensive, autonomous platform to gather soundscape data at varying depths for years at a time.
Seatrec will establish a long-term presence in the Gulf of Mexico to support the MOU missions with a satellite office provided by the Gulf Blue Navigator program while its headquarters will remain in Vista, California.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures energy harvesting systems that generate electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences in ocean waters. This renewable energy can be used to power deep water oceanographic research equipment such as floats, gliders, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), resulting in the most scalable, cost-effective deep ocean data collection possible. Incorporated in 2016 by CEO, Dr. Yi Chao, Seatrec’s technology originated at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, to provide clean power for remote off-grid locations. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at www.seatrec.com and @seatrecinc.
About The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) is a comprehensive public research institution delivering transformative programs on campuses in Hattiesburg and Long Beach, at teaching and research sites across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as well as online. Founded in 1910, USM is one of only 146 universities in the nation to earn the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education’s "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity” designation and its robust research enterprise includes experts in ocean science and engineering, polymer science and engineering, and large event venue safety and security, among others. USM is also one of only 36 institutions in the nation accredited in theatre, art and design, dance and music. As an economic driver, USM generates an annual economic impact of more than $663 million across the state. USM welcomes a diverse student body of more than 13,500, representing more than 70 countries, all 50 states, and every county in Mississippi. USM students have collected four Truman Scholarships and 37 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, while also leading Mississippi with 27 Goldwater Scholarships, an honor that recognizes the next generation of great research scientists. Home to the Golden Eagles, USM competes in 17 Division I sports sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). For more information, visit usm.edu.
Contact Information:
Sean Yokomizo
Media Relations/Communications
Seatrec, Inc.
925.878.1200
sean.yokomizo@seatrec.com
Here is the official press release.
