Abstract
Surface drifting buoys, or drifters, are used in oceanographic and climate research, oil spill tracking, weather forecasting, search and rescue operations, calibration and validation of velocities from high-frequency radar and from altimeters, iceberg tracking, and support of offshore drilling operations. In this review, we present a brief history of drifters, from the message in a bottle to the latest satellite-tracked, multisensor drifters. We discuss the different types of drifters currently used for research and operations as well as drifter designs in development. We conclude with a discussion of the various properties that can be observed with drifters, with heavy emphasis on a critical process that cannot adequately be observed by any other instrument: dispersion in the upper ocean, driven by turbulence at scales from waves through the submesoscale to the large-scale geostrophic eddies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 59-81 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Annual Review of Marine Science |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 3 2017 |
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Keywords
- Dispersion
- Drifters
- Lagrangian observations
- Surface currents
- Transport
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oceanography
Cite this
Advances in the Application of Surface Drifters. / Lumpkin, Rick; Ozgokmen, Tamay M; Centurioni, Luca.
In: Annual Review of Marine Science, Vol. 9, No. 1, 03.01.2017, p. 59-81.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Advances in the Application of Surface Drifters
AU - Lumpkin, Rick
AU - Ozgokmen, Tamay M
AU - Centurioni, Luca
PY - 2017/1/3
Y1 - 2017/1/3
N2 - Surface drifting buoys, or drifters, are used in oceanographic and climate research, oil spill tracking, weather forecasting, search and rescue operations, calibration and validation of velocities from high-frequency radar and from altimeters, iceberg tracking, and support of offshore drilling operations. In this review, we present a brief history of drifters, from the message in a bottle to the latest satellite-tracked, multisensor drifters. We discuss the different types of drifters currently used for research and operations as well as drifter designs in development. We conclude with a discussion of the various properties that can be observed with drifters, with heavy emphasis on a critical process that cannot adequately be observed by any other instrument: dispersion in the upper ocean, driven by turbulence at scales from waves through the submesoscale to the large-scale geostrophic eddies.
AB - Surface drifting buoys, or drifters, are used in oceanographic and climate research, oil spill tracking, weather forecasting, search and rescue operations, calibration and validation of velocities from high-frequency radar and from altimeters, iceberg tracking, and support of offshore drilling operations. In this review, we present a brief history of drifters, from the message in a bottle to the latest satellite-tracked, multisensor drifters. We discuss the different types of drifters currently used for research and operations as well as drifter designs in development. We conclude with a discussion of the various properties that can be observed with drifters, with heavy emphasis on a critical process that cannot adequately be observed by any other instrument: dispersion in the upper ocean, driven by turbulence at scales from waves through the submesoscale to the large-scale geostrophic eddies.
KW - Dispersion
KW - Drifters
KW - Lagrangian observations
KW - Surface currents
KW - Transport
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85008881611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85008881611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060641
DO - 10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060641
M3 - Article
C2 - 27575739
AN - SCOPUS:85008881611
VL - 9
SP - 59
EP - 81
JO - Annual Review of Marine Science
JF - Annual Review of Marine Science
SN - 1941-1405
IS - 1
ER -