Gulf Coast - Gulf of Mexico Drifter Experiment

317 drifters have been deployed in the northern Gulf of Mexico in the last two weeks in the largest experiment of its kind. The goal of this experiment is to improve our understanding of the currents in this area and we will be sharing our results with all. Already, > 30 drifters have been removed by folks but luckily 11 have been redeployed and we are working with others to get more back in the water. Please leave these drifters in the water and please email me, [email protected] if you have any of our drifters. Thanks for your cooperation.

Pictures of the drifter can be found here

http://www.facebook.com/CARTHE.GoMRI

professor arthur mariano

Just Troll around them!!!:rofl:

Or cast around them for Cobia or Black Fish got to be holding one or the other :)

We were fishing a tournament in Mexico Beach, FL last weekend and we trolled by one of these that was near a weed line. About 65 miles SW of Mexico Beach. By the way, nothing at home when we trolled by.

They usually do hold fish. I hope someone catches a big one near one of our drifters and shares the
story. There are no rewards for finding drifters and returning them, contrary to what people think.
There was an old program that did reward people, but it is finished. So please leave them in the
water. I have already contacted 3 people who have some of our drifters now. Some of them were
very surprised to get a call asking for our instruments back. cheers, O

They usually do hold fish. I hope someone catches a big one near one of our drifters and shares the
story. There are no rewards for finding drifters and returning them, contrary to what people think.
There was an old program that did reward people, but it is finished. So please leave them in the
water. I have already contacted 3 people who have some of our drifters now. Some of them were
very surprised to get a call asking for our instruments back. cheers, O

What type of information do you have attached to the drifters for people?

What type of information do you have attached to the drifters for people?

No kidding.

Now you know, but you should have also had a campaign telling everyone to leave them alone. This is the first I've heard of this.

No kidding.

Now you know, but you should have also had a campaign telling everyone to leave them alone. This is the first I've heard of this.

Likewise, if I saw this floating around and there was nothing saying not to touch it then I would probably pick it up too. There should be very clear direction of what it is and why people should not interfere IMO. Is there any information like this on the drifters?

http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/2012/carthe-at-sea-a-grand-experiment-for-transformative-research-in-gulf-oil-studies/

Are these the drifters? I have facebook blocked from my router at home so I had to google it.

My general rule is if it doesn't have a note saying it is OK to touch it then leave it alone.

I've seen several orange torpedo shaped objects in the Gulf that have several antennas sticking out. I assume they are some kind of weather, or surveying device?

A couple of my buddies have picked them up and never would have if there were some directions or info put out somewhere, ie internet, marinas, word of mouth even gets around very quick in places like Venice. We all used to keep our eyes open for the large white tubes that were worth $300 a pop. Always a great day when we found those, extra tip for the day. Has anyone seen these lately? Its a hard plastic tube about 6'' wide and 30''-40'' long. Haven't seen or heard of one in about 4 years. Sorry to derail your thread but it seams most of the guys know not to pick them up now. Hope they can give us some helpful info for the gulf!!

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. There are tags on them saying do not remove from water; though we have been told by one of the fisherman there were no tags on the drifters that he found. The USCG has been broadcasting for weeks and will continue to broadcast to mariners not to remove the drifters. There was also media coverage about the experiment.

We did not think anyone would take something that looks brand new and like a scientific instrument. We were wrong and we have found out that there is a misconception that a reward is available for finding the drifters. There is no reward $$. Thanks for all your help in passing the word.

Redfishray that is another link to a picture of the drifters, thanks. cheers, O

i think i saw one today southwest of ft morgan.... maybe.... i ran by it at 52 NM of DI....

Professor O, I am a SAR coordinator in NOLA. I have been told that the data collected from the drifters will be integrated into our SAROPS system that we use to try to estimate where our search targets might drift. They gather current and environmental data. One of the greatest challenges SAR coordinators face is knowing where to look. The data these drifters provide should help make us more accurate.

Professor O, I am a SAR coordinator in NOLA. I have been told that the data collected from the drifters will be integrated into our SAROPS system that we use to try to estimate where our search targets might drift. They gather current and environmental data. One of the greatest challenges SAR coordinators face is knowing where to look. The data these drifters provide should help make us more accurate.

Paul, thanks for introducing yourself. The USCG has helped us out in this experiment by launching drifters before we started deploying the CARTHE's drifters to give us a better idea of the flow field for our sampling. The goal of this work, funded by the GoMRI, is to see how stuff disperses on the smallest scales, < 10 km. This data will improve the estimates of the mean flow and its variability in the northern gulf. Also, this data is already "telling me" that a whole new class of models for particle motion in the ocean will be needed to further improve SAR.

I'm also about to begin another project to update the Mariano Global Surface Velocity Analysis that is used in SAROPS. This will take awhile but will be a significant improvement. cheers, O

Paul, thanks for introducing yourself. The USCG has helped us out in this experiment by launching drifters before we started deploying the CARTHE's drifters to give us a better idea of the flow field for our sampling. The goal of this work, funded by the GoMRI, is to see how stuff disperses on the smallest scales, < 10 km. This data will improve the estimates of the mean flow and its variability in the northern gulf. Also, this data is already "telling me" that a whole new class of models for particle motion in the ocean will be needed to further improve SAR.

I'm also about to begin another project to update the Mariano Global Surface Velocity Analysis that is used in SAROPS. This will take awhile but will be a significant improvement. cheers, O

This is all really fascinating to me...much of it beyond my level of comprehension. One of the things that make this area much more difficult to model is the MS River. At high water, the "plume" of effects of the river can be seen and felt as far as 50 miles from the mouth.

Saw one on the way to Mars on Sunday wasn't anything around it but a small triple tail.

Thanks to all that left the drifters alone. We just had 11 drifters "caught and released" back into the water; they probably heard the USCG broadcast about leaving the instruments in the water. If folks could pass the word around the fishing community, please email members in your fishing clubs, that there is no reward money for any instrument drifting on the ocean surface and that they should leave the instruments in the water that would be great. 10% of our experiment has already been lost because of folks taking drifters and in the last few years, about 1/3 of ocean drifters never make it past FL because some boat grabs them. cheers, O

THANKS everyone, please continue to pass the word that there is no reward for any drifting instruments in the water. This weekend we actually gained drifters since we had a few of our removed drifters redeployed by captains. The fishing community and the USCG sector NO have been a big help!! cheers, O

I heard the instuments were being used to try to figure out where all of the endangered American Red Snapper are.....:grin:

I heard the instuments were being used to try to figure out where all of the endangered American Red Snapper are.....:grin:

That was good, thanks for the laugh this morning. We are just trying to learn more about ocean currents and to get better estimates about how stuff disperses/spreads in the ocean. cheers, O

No problem professor :grin:

Thanks for the info Professor. But when out in the Gulf I often see debris, nonbiodegradables, and assorted flotsam and if I can get it out of the water safely I usually do. I understand the need the leave these drifters alone now but in deploying hundreds of them will there come a time when they are just debris and need to be picked up. Is there a way to know?
Would be nice to have a Coast Guard registry of all ongoing floaters.

Thanks again.

Somebody teach me something. While I'm in favor of all this science and understanding the gulf better, this seems sorta useless in light of the fact that the currents in the gulf vary considerably from year to year. We've all seen it. Some years a good loop sits 40 miles out. Sometimes it doesn't get within 100 miles. I guess mapping the general trend is helpful but don't we sorta already know this. Not bashin', just axin'.

Somebody teach me something. While I'm in favor of all this science and understanding the gulf better, this seems sorta useless in light of the fact that the currents in the gulf vary considerably from year to year. We've all seen it. Some years a good loop sits 40 miles out. Sometimes it doesn't get within 100 miles. I guess mapping the general trend is helpful but don't we sorta already know this. Not bashin', just axin'.

All people that fish should be somewhat concern with currents. By knowing the currents (how the change periodically, and general trend) we can predict dispersal patterns occurring in the gulf. So if you have a sport fishing spawning in a certain area by knowing the currents we can determine where these new recruits are going and in turn increasing the fishery of that particular area.

By knowing the way the currents are occurring in field while also measuring other factors temperature, windspeed, salinity, ect. we can use this information to predict the currents in the gulf using models. Plug in some parameters (temp, wind speed, ect) into a model and the output will be certain currents ect. In order to determine how accurate that model is you need field measurements.You can use these models in multiple ways (fishers, weather predictions, shipping info, ect) Now I have no experience with the research that is being conducted with these drifters just from my experience with the subject.

Sorry for the long winded post but that is the main reasons why. Hope it somewhat helped.

Sure. The model thing makes perfect sense. Thanks dude.