Global Drifter Program

This is a snapshot of the distribution of the drifters in the GDP. (A live tracking update of drifter locations is available through Google Earth at www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/gdp_maps.php.)

The Global Drifter Program (GDP) (formerly known as the Surface Velocity Program (SVP)) was conceived by Prof. Peter Niiler, with the objective of collecting measurements of surface ocean currents, sea surface temperature and sea-level atmospheric pressure[1] using drifters. It is the principal component of the Global Surface Drifting Buoy Array, a branch of NOAA's Global Ocean Observations[2] and a scientific project of the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP).[3][4] The project originated in February 1979 as part of the TOGA/Equatorial Pacific Ocean Circulation Experiment (EPOCS) and the first large-scale deployment of drifters was in 1988 with the goal of mapping the tropical Pacific Ocean's surface circulation.[5] The current goal of the project is to use 1250 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys to make accurate and globally dense in-situ observations of mixed layer currents, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, winds and salinity, and to create a system to process the data.[4] Horizontal transports in the oceanic mixed layer measured by the GDP are relevant to biological and chemical processes as well as physical ones.[6]

  1. ^ Centurioni, Luca; et al. (2016). "A Global Ocean Observing System for Measuring Sea Level Atmospheric Pressure: Effects and Impacts on Numerical Weather Prediction". Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 98 (2): 231–238. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00080.1.
  2. ^ "Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)". Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  3. ^ "Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP)". Archived from the original on 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  4. ^ a b "PhOD - Global Drifter Program". Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference svp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Grodsky, Semyon A., Rick Lumpkin, and James A. Carton. "Spurious trends in global surface drifter currents." Geophysical Research Letters 38.10 (2011).