Drifting buoys are free drifting platforms with a float or buoy that keep the drifter at the surface and underwater sails or socks that catch the current. These instruments sit at the surface of the ocean and are transported via near-surface ocean currents. They are not fixed to the ocean bottom, therefore they "drift" with the currents. For this reason, these instruments are referred to as drifters, or drifting buoys.
The surface float contains sensors that measure different parameters, such as sea surface temperature, barometric pressure, salinity, wave height, etc. Data collected from these sensors are transmitted to satellites passing overhead, which are then relayed to land-based data centers.
definition sources: https://mmisw.org/ont/ioos/platform/drifting_buoy and https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/gdp/faq.php#drifter1
Dataset Name | Brief Description |
---|---|
BLOOFINZ-GoM_ABT_prey | Bluefin tuna gut analysis |
buoy_position | Autonomous buoy position data from Southern Ocean GLOBEC |
buoy_radiometer | Radiometer data from autonomous buoy 07949, Aug. - Nov. 2001 |
buoy_temp_barom | Air temp and barometric press results from autonomous buoys, Aug-Nov, 2001 |
buoy_therm | Thermistor data at 10 cm intervals in air, ice, water from autonomous buoys, Aug. - Nov. 2001 |
CICLOPS Event Log | |
Drifters | Drifters |
DRIFTERS | |
Drifters - CT | Drifters, CT type |
Drifters - EXP | Drifters, EXP type |
drifter_images | Drifter movie data |
drifter_images | Drifter movie data (WHOI and other sources) |
drifter_start_positions | Initial drifter deployment positions |
drifter_tracks | Drifter track data from Georges Bank, 1995-1999 |
dye_bh | Scanfish data from dye injection, OC342, Georges Bank, 1999 |
floats_2003 | CTD data from 4 floats deployed in 2003 over the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf near Marguerite Bay |
GPS drifter tracks | |
Kelp tracking drifter data | |
nmfs_drift | Small scale drifters |
ox18 | Gross and Integrated Gross Oxygen Productivity |
Phyto Growth and Grazing FlChla GoM | Phytoplankton growth and grazing mortality from fluorometric chlorophyll a in the Gulf of Mexico |
Phyto Growth and Grazing HPLC GoM | Phytoplankton growth and grazing mortality from HPLC pigments in the Gulf of Mexico |
surface drifters | Surface drifter measurements of temperature and drogue tension from KOK1108 |