Identification and Real-Time Tracking of Fronts and Subduction Zones through Deployments of Massive Arrays of Biodegradable Drifters
Abstract
The proposer spent the past 5 years advancing drifter-based ocean sampling to a massive scale by releasing some 2500 drifters in the Gulf of Mexico under four major expeditions. One of the primary findings of these expeditions is that the ocean~s surface is covered by convergence zones and fronts containing high vertical velocities [O(1 cm/s)]. Yet these convergence zones are very narrow [O(100 m)] and very rapidly evolving [O(1 hour)]. Drifters are the only instruments that can locate and track these features in real-time accurately. GPS-tracked drifters naturally provide circulation data without any interruptions and far longer than the ship time used in ocean expeditions. The massive data sets in the Gulf (close to 20 million velocity points) were made possible through the devel"opment of a new type of drifter, which is biodegradable, compact, cost effective, and scalable to hundreds of deployments over a few"" hours (patent pending for ~zg~kmen and co-inventors). More recent versions of the drifter include temperature, salinity and wave se""nsors, as well as drogues of different lengths. I propose to bring this new capability to the ONRDRI experiments. When combined with"" other instruments, in particular the Lagrangian floats, itwill present an essential tool to begin addressing the scientific questi"ons posed in the white paper
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 20, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812138
Entities
People
- Tamay M. Özgökmen
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Miami