Dr. Judy Staveley, President of The Platform Magazine Foundation, sat down with Joe Wolfel, CEO of Terradepth, at Sea-Air-Space 2026 to explore how the company is transforming maritime intelligence through autonomous underwater systems and advanced data platforms.
Unlocking the Ocean Floor: A New Era of Maritime Intelligence
At the intersection of national security, technology, and scientific discovery lies one of the greatest unknowns on Earth: the ocean floor. While satellites have mapped distant planets and terrestrial landscapes with remarkable precision, much of the seabed remains largely unexplored or poorly understood.
Joe Wolfel, a former Navy SEAL and now CEO and co-founder of Terradepth, is working to change that.
“We’re on a mission to increase the amount of intelligence humanity has about the ocean,” Wolfel shared. “That intelligence directly informs how we make decisions about what we do and do not do with respect to ocean resources.”
Terradepth is often described as delivering “Google Earth for the ocean,” but the reality is far more complex and impactful. Through a combination of AI-enabled autonomous underwater vehicles and its cloud-based platform, Absolute Ocean, the company is building a scalable, real-time ecosystem for seafloor intelligence.
Closing Critical Capability Gaps
One of the most striking insights from the conversation was the significant gap in high-resolution ocean data.
Much of what appears on commonly used mapping platforms is not real data but rather extrapolated approximations. This creates a serious challenge for both commercial and defense sectors.
“If we don’t have a high-resolution understanding of the seabed before hostilities commence, we cannot detect change,” Wolfel explained. “You cannot perform change detection with only a single survey.”
This capability gap has profound implications for national security. From detecting undersea mines to monitoring the integrity of submarine fiber optic cables and pipelines, the ability to rapidly collect, process, and analyze ocean data is essential.
Terradepth is addressing this by dramatically improving:
- The speed of data collection
- The cost efficiency of operations
- The accessibility of actionable intelligence
Historically, ocean data collection was slow, expensive, and often underutilized. Data would sit on hard drives, inaccessible to decision-makers when it mattered most. Terradepth is changing that paradigm by ensuring data is operationalized and delivered in real time.
AI Beneath the Surface
Artificial intelligence plays a central role in Terradepth’s innovation strategy.
From onboard machine learning models embedded in autonomous vehicles to advanced analytics within the Absolute Ocean platform, AI is reducing the burden on human operators while increasing accuracy and speed.
“We’re reducing human cognitive load,” Wolfel noted. “Our systems can identify man-made objects on the seabed so analysts don’t have to manually classify hundreds of potential targets.”
The future vision goes even further. In the underwater domain, communication is limited due to the physics of signal transmission through water. This requires systems that are not just automated, but truly autonomous.
“As AI matures, our vehicles will become fully independent,” he explained. “They will be able to operate, assess, and respond without constant human input.”
This shift toward autonomy is critical in contested environments where rapid decision-making and operational resilience are essential.
Supporting National Security and Critical Infrastructure
The applications of Terradepth’s technology extend across both defense and commercial sectors.
The company supports what Wolfel describes as “critical decision-makers,” ranging from military leaders to energy executives. Whether assessing the condition of offshore pipelines or ensuring safe maritime transit routes, the platform provides a foundational layer of intelligence.
From a defense perspective, this directly supports operational readiness and force protection.
Accurate seabed data enables:
- Safe navigation for naval vessels and special operations forces
- Detection of potential threats such as mines or foreign objects
- Protection of critical undersea infrastructure
“It’s about enabling the ability to observe, orient, decide, and act,” Wolfel emphasized, referencing the military decision-making framework. “We provide the orientation layer for ocean data.”
Building the Ocean Operating System
Terradepth’s long-term vision is ambitious: to create an “ocean operating system” that integrates data from a wide range of autonomous platforms.
With over 300 million square kilometers of ocean to understand, no single system can operate in isolation. Instead, Terradepth is building an ecosystem where data from multiple vehicles and technologies can be aggregated, analyzed, and shared.
“It’s going to take a village to illuminate the underwater environment,” Wolfel said. “Everything needs to plug into a common ecosystem to make that data usable.”
Investing in the Next Generation
Education and workforce development are also central to Terradepth’s mission.
The company collaborates with leading academic institutions, including the University of New Hampshire, to support hydrographic and oceanographic research. These partnerships allow students and researchers to utilize Terradepth’s platform for real-world applications.
For students interested in entering the field, Wolfel emphasized the importance of STEM disciplines, particularly those related to offshore environments and coastal engineering.
“We hire for traits and train for skills,” he noted. “A strong foundation in environmental and engineering sciences is incredibly valuable.”
A Mission Aligned with Service
As a former Navy SEAL, Wolfel continues to support the veteran community. Approximately one-third of Terradepth’s workforce comes from military or federal service backgrounds, and he actively contributes to veteran transition initiatives such as the Honor Foundation.
This alignment with service and mission-driven work resonates deeply with The Platform Magazine Foundation, which is committed to empowering veterans and providing platforms for their voices.
Final Thoughts
As global tensions increase and undersea infrastructure becomes a focal point of national security, companies like Terradepth are stepping forward to address one of the most critical intelligence gaps of our time.
By combining advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based analytics, Terradepth is not only mapping the ocean floor but reshaping how humanity understands and protects it.
The future of maritime security will not be defined solely by what happens above the surface, but by the intelligence gathered below it.
Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/rA5FV86B5AI?si=mlO2_5UQSpWvqZu-