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Media Contact:
Bassem Kadry, Chief Innovation Officer
ScienceWerx, Inc.
Email: bassem@sciencewerx.org
Phone: 240-586-3403
Website: www.sciencewerx.org
AI Predicts and Locates Vast Sargassum Patches Off Fort Lauderdale
Ocean responders can more effectively manage marine events like sargassum blooms after a successful pilot demonstrated AI’s ability to predict and validate the location of floating objects.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — September 8, 2026 — FORT LAUDERDALE, FL and FREDERICK, MD — Castus Technologies, in partnership with the International SeaKeepers Society, Debris Free Oceans, and ScienceWerx, successfully predicted and located over 70,000 square meters of sargassum off Fort Lauderdale. This operational pilot, conducted on August 13, 2026, showcased the platform’s advanced AI for tracking floating objects in U.S. waters.
The demonstration validates the Castus platform's multi-mission capability for any ocean response dependent on locating drifting surface objects. It represents a significant step forward in leveraging artificial intelligence for environmental management and disaster preparedness.
The pilot was funded under an active NOAA Trade, Development and Commercialization Award, emphasizing its role in advancing commercial ocean digitization solutions. ScienceWerx contributed workforce and program support through its Ocean Digitization Workforce, of which Castus Technologies is a member company.
Pilot Execution Details
The operational sequence spanned three days, integrating artificial intelligence, high-resolution satellite imagery, and vessel-based ground-truth validation to achieve precise sargassum tracking.
From August 11-12, Castus's patented AI algorithms analyzed ocean circulation and wind-driven drift data across a 12-mile offshore zone from the Fort Lauderdale boat ramp. This process identified high-probability zones for floating object accumulation, generating specific coordinates flagged as high-confidence hotspots.
On August 12, Castus utilized its active Planet Labs commercial imagery contract to task a high-resolution satellite. The resulting imagery confirmed the presence of multiple large sargassum patches within the predicted coordinates.
On August 13, Castus's drift-forecasting model projected the movement of the confirmed patches. A joint expedition team then sailed to these projected coordinates, using drone and on-water video to confirm the patches' precise location, extent, and the accuracy of the drift predictions.
Broader Platform Capabilities
While sargassum served as the demonstration use case, the underlying Castus technology functions as a general-purpose predictive engine for ocean disaster response. The same patented Bayesian probability engine is designed to serve any mission that depends on knowing where something floating on the ocean surface will drift.
Oil Spill Tracking: Predicting oil slick trajectories to enable timely interception by response cooperatives, coast guards, and environmental agencies before pollution impacts sensitive reefs, mangroves, or shore.
Search and Rescue: Forecasting the drift of overboard persons, disabled vessels, and life rafts to reduce search radii and critical time-to-rescue, where minutes translate directly into lives saved.
Lost Asset Recovery: Tracking container losses, ghost fishing gear, and adrift vessels for shipping operators, ports, and marine insurers facing increased climate-related marine loss events.
Marine Debris Interception: Directing cleanup crews to high-probability accumulation zones, thereby reducing fuel consumption and vessel-hour costs compared to open-ended searches.
These diverse applications aim to shift response teams from searching for their target to intercepting it, significantly improving mission efficiency, reducing time-to-target, and lowering operational costs across various marine operations.
About ScienceWerx, Inc.
ScienceWerx was born from a simple yet powerful observation: countless groundbreaking scientific discoveries remain trapped in academic journals and laboratories, unable to make a real-world impact. The gap between brilliant research and market-ready solutions represents a massive loss of potential for humanity.
About Castus Technologies, Inc
About Castus Technologies Castus Technologies, Inc. is a commercial ocean-digitization platform for disaster response, headquartered in Miami, Florida. The company's patented AI (WIPO Publication WO 2024/180491, U.S. patent application filed) fuses ocean circulation, wind drift, buoyancy dynamics, and high-cadence satellite imagery through a Bayesian probability engine to predict where floating hazards will drift, so response teams reach their target zone before crews leave the dock. Currently at Technology Readiness Level 7, Castus is backed by an active NOAA Technology Development and Commercialization award. Castus is a portfolio company of Braid Theory, a member of Seaworthy Collective (Cohort 4), and an alumnus of the Antler US Residency program.
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