WEBVTT

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We know more about
other planets than our own,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and today, I want to show you
a new type of robot

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
designed to help us better understand

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
our own planet.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It belongs to a category

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
known in the oceanographic community
as an unmanned surface vehicle, or USV,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and it uses no fuel.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Instead, it relies
on wind power for propulsion,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and yet it can sail around the globe

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for months at a time.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So I want to share with you
why we built it,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and what it means for you.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A few years ago, I was on a sailboat
making its way across the Pacific,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
from San Francisco to Hawaii.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I had just spent the past 10 years

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
working nonstop developing video games
for hundreds of millions of users,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and I wanted to take a step back
and look at the big picture

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and get some much-needed thinking time.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I was the navigator on board,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and one evening, after a long session
analyzing weather data

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and plotting our course,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I came up on deck and saw
this beautiful sunset,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and a thought occurred to me;

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
how much do we really
know about our oceans?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The Pacific was stretching all around me
as far as the eye could see,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and the waves were
rocking our boat forcefully,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a sort of constant reminder
of its untold power.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
How much do we really
know about our oceans?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I decided to find out.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
What I quickly learned
is that we don't know very much,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and the first reason is just
how vast oceans are,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
covering 70 percent of the planet,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and yet we know they drive
complex planetary systems

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
like global weather,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which affect all of us on a daily basis,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
sometimes dramatically.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And yet, those activities
are mostly invisible to us.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Ocean data is scarce by any standards.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Back on land, I had grown used
to accessing lots of sensors,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
billions of them actually,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but at sea, in situ data
is scarce and expensive.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Why? Because it relies
on a small number of ships and buoys.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
How small a number
was actually a great surprise.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Our National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
better known as NOAH,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
only has 16 ships

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and there are less than
200 buoys offshore globally.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It is easy to understand why.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The oceans are an unforgiving place,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and to collect in situ data,
you need a big ship

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
capable of carrying a vast amount of fuel

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and large crews,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
costing hundreds
of millions of dollars each,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or big buoys tethered to the ocean floor
with a four-mile-long cable

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and waited down by a set of train wheels

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which is both dangerous to deploy
and expensive to maintain.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
What about satellites, you might ask?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Well, satellites are fantastic,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and they have taught us
so much about the big picture

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
over the past few decades.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
However, the problem with satellites

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is they can only see through one micron

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of the surface of the ocean.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
They have relatively poor
spatial and temporal resolution,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and their signal needs to be corrected

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for cloud cover and land effects
and other factors.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So what is going on in the oceans?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And what are we trying to measure?