System for dangerous current identification, characterization, alerting and for distressed swimmer location and assistance

A vessel comprising:

• a body that floats in water;
• one or more thrusters provided on a bottom surface of the body;
• one or more sensors provided on the body;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• selectively activate the thrusters to cause the vessel to move along a path through the water;
• receive sensor data from the one or more sensors while the vessel is moving along the path;
• determine, based on the sensor data, when the vessel is performing a pass of a dangerous condition in the water while moving along the path,
• after determining that the vessel is performing the pass of the dangerous condition while moving along the path, control the thrusters to adjust a heading of the vessel from the path such that vessel performs one or more additional passes through the dangerous condition, and update, during the one or more additional passes of the dangerous condition, the sensor data to determine a variation in the dangerous condition;
• and
• store information regarding the dangerous condition in the water, wherein the information identifies the variation in the dangerous condition.