The majority of the Earths surface is covered with water, and the air-water interface (AWI) acts as the natural boundary between the atmosphere and the water. The AWI is an important ecological zone in natural aquatic habitats that governs transport of material and energy between bodies of water and the atmosphere. Little is known about temperature profiles and biological transport across the boundary layers at the air-water interface, and how wind interactions at the AWI affects them. New technologies such as sensors and unmanned surface vehicles (USV) need to be developed and used to address this knowledge gap. The goal of the research is to study population densities of the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae below, at and above the AWI using USV equipped with specialized sensors. The first specific objective was to map temperature profiles and resolve the boundary layer at the AWI using high resolution distributed temperature sensing (HR-DTS) on board an unmanned surface vehicle (USV). Our second research objective was to sample microbes from the water with a USV at multiple depths and locations. Our third research objective was to sample microbes from the atmosphere with a USV at the AWI. Our fourth research objective was to track and localize hazardous agents (tracer dyes) using a USV in aqueous environments. / Ph. D.