Tag Archives: Drifters

Lesson Plan (Grades 9-12): Go with the Flow – Designing Ocean Drifters

This fun and creative lesson plan teaches students how researchers use oceanographic instruments called drifters to study ocean currents and then has them design and build a drifter of their own. The lesson typically spans five class periods (three for building, one for presentation, and one for testing). The lesson plan includes background information, a complete materials list, and a grading rubric.

“Go with the Flow: Designing Ocean Drifters” originally appeared in the Deep-C Multidisciplinary High School Curriculum and has been updated with the design process used to create the CARTHE Drifter.

A free downloadable copy of Go with the Flow: Designing Ocean Drifters is available here.

Visit the CARTHE website to learn more about their research.

Smithsonian Highlights Technology that Tracks the Ocean’s Flow

6547 — Guillaume Novelli (L) releases a Phatom 4 pro drone from the RV Walton Smith while Cedric Guigand (R) operates the flight controls during the CARTHE SPLASH experiment. High-resolution cameras on the drone collected aerial observations of floating bamboo drift plates and fast-evolving fronts at 1 meter – 200 meters scales. Photo by Tamay Ozgokmen, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Many factors affect how the ocean moves, and it is especially difficult to know exactly how it will behave in a specific area, as was evident with challenges in predicting oil transport during Deepwater Horizon. The Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal published an article that describes tools scientists use to track currents on and just beneath the ocean’s surface, such as drifters, autonomous underwater vehicles, planes, and video equipment attached to ship-tethered balloons and drones.

Read the article Five Methods For Tracking The Ocean’s Motion featuring the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). Their research is helping us learn more about how currents and waves move water and floating material (such as spilled oil and plastics).

Read these related stories:

By Nilde Maggie Dannreuther. Contact maggied@ngi.msstate.edu with questions or comments.

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GoMRI and the Smithsonian have a partnership to enhance oil spill science content on the Ocean Portal website.

The GoMRI is a 10-year independent research program established to study the effect, and the potential associated impact, of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health, as well as to develop improved spill mitigation, oil detection, characterization and remediation technologies. An independent and academic 20-member Research Board makes the funding and research direction decisions to ensure the intellectual quality, effectiveness and academic independence of the GoMRI research. All research data, findings and publications will be made publicly available. The program was established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP. For more information, visit https://gulfresearchinitiative.org/.

© Copyright 2010-2019 Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) – All Rights Reserved. Redistribution is encouraged with acknowledgement to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI). Please credit images and/or videos as done in each article. Questions? Contact web-content editor Nilde “Maggie” Dannreuther, Northern Gulf Institute, Mississippi State University (maggied@ngi.msstate.edu).

Grad Student Lodise Deconstructs Drifter Velocities to Understand How Wind Influences Currents

6486a — John Lodise releases a drifter during a BayDrift experiment near the Rosenstiel School campus. (Photo credit: Diana Udel)

Many ocean forecast models treat the upper 1 meter of the water column, which plays a central role in ocean material transport, as a single layer. However, recent research shows that currents act differently at various depths within this meter.

The use of ocean drifters is the oldest way to measure currents, and recent design advances are providing more detailed and accurate ocean current data than ever. John Lodise analyzes data from these improved drifters to observe near-surface currents at multiple depths and explores how wind-driven velocities influence them. “If we know exactly how the wind is going to affect surface currents, then we can analyze forecasted wind and wave conditions to better predict the movement of surface currents and the pollution being transported by them,” he said.

John is a Ph.D. student with the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a GoMRI Scholar with Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment II (CARTHE II).

His Path

6486b — John Lodise deploys a drifter in Gulf of Mexico during the LASER experiment, January 2016. (Provided by John Lodise)

John grew up on Long Island, New York where the ocean was part of his life through fishing, beach trips, and surfing. John, as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, explored scientific fields related to ocean science and ultimately chose physical oceanography. “Being able to understand the movement and circulation of the ocean is so important to solving many of today’s environmental issues,” he said. “I thought physical oceanography was an avenue where I could really make a contribution to the current scientific understanding.” He graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science and concentrations in atmospheric science and physical oceanography.

While researching potential graduate programs, John was immediately impressed and motivated by the CARTHE research taking place at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He applied to the program and accepted a position in Dr. Tamay Özgökmen’s ocean sciences lab, where researchers are conducting studies on ocean transport of floating material such as Deepwater Horizon oil. “I’ve always felt a connection to the ocean, and with that comes an obligation to try and protect it and all the resources it provides,” said John. “What’s most important for me is being part of a community that’s actively working towards protecting oceans, beaches, the ecosystems that exist there, and oceanic resources that humans depend on.”

His Work

6486c — John Lodise helps a drone piloted by Dr. Dan Carson take off from a small boat in the Gulf of Mexico during the SPLASH experiment. Drones were used to take photos and videos of drift cards deployed by scientists to track surface currents. (Provided by John Lodise)

John deconstructs surface currents using data from drifters deployed during the Lagrangian Submesoscale Experiment (LASER), which used a fully-coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean model to calculate the physical variables involved in currents. John first applies the Lagrangian Variational Analysis (LAVA) tool to estimate velocity fields in the study region when wind and wave action is minimal. Doing so allows him to capture the underlying circulation patterns not driven by wind and waves. He then analyzes how drifter velocity changes when wind and wave activity increase and defines the total surface current into separate components driven by wind, waves, and underlying circulation patterns.

Drifters used during LASER had drogues (an attached flexible tether with sensing instruments that collected data 60 cm below the surface); however, a significant number of them lost their drogues due to bad weather and only collected data 5 cm below the surface. John assesses data from drifters with and without drogues to calculate wind-driven currents at these different depths. “The ocean surface is very difficult to sample, but it’s where buoyant pollutants like oil reside,” he said. “Including data from undrogued drifters, which sit right at the surface, can provide needed insight into this area.”

6486d — John Lodise practices piloting a drone in preparation for the SPLASH experiment. (Provided by John Lodise)

So far, John has observed that wind and wave forcing caused significant changes in water column velocity as his calculations neared the ocean surface, consistent with recent CARTHE studies (Laxague et.al., 2017 and Haza et al., 2018). Undrogued drifters traveled approximately 1.5 times faster than drogued drifters due to wind and wave influence. Furthermore, while wind-driven currents are known to travel to the right of the wind direction, he observed that currents deeper in the water column traveled further to the right than shallower currents.

John plans to investigate if convergence zones transport or hold surface debris between different water masses and how large wind and wave events change the structure of existing ocean currents and what happens after the wind and waves subside. He also plans to compare LASER data with data collected during the Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD) and Submesoscale Processes and Lagrangian Analysis on the Shelf (SPLASH) experiments to explore how factors such as seasonality and regional effects influence surface drifter transport.

His Learning

6486e — John Lodise releases drift cards near the Rosenstiel School campus for the BayDrift experiment, which studies pollution transport pathways off the coast of Miami and south Florida. (Photo credit: Diana Udel)

Working with Dr. Özgökmen provided John the opportunity to participate in major Gulf of Mexico field experiments that used technologies such as GPS-equipped ocean drifters, drones, planes, and satellites to measure ocean currents. He gained experience assembling and deploying drifters during the LASER project and took part in small boat operations, drifter deployments, and drone experiments during SPLASH. Prior to these large field experiments, there were months of preparation and collaboration. “It was an amazing experience being out on the Gulf of Mexico, living aboard a ship, and building and deploying ocean drifters with the whole scientific team,” he said. “Being part of this large group of scientists working towards a common goal was not only a lot of fun but also made me proud to be part of the CARTHE group and work on the leading edge of oceanography.”

His Future

6486f — CARTHE team members after completing a BayDrift experiment. (L-R) Laura Bracken, Simge Bilgen, Matt Grossi, Cedric Guigand, Guillaume Novelli, and John Lodise. (Provided by John Lodise)

John plans to seek a position at a university, government agency, or private environmental agency after completing his Ph.D. and hopes to continue his current research path. “The career I’ve chosen has given me amazing opportunities to travel while conducting and presenting my research,” he said. “I love the work that I do.”

Praise for John

Dr. Özgökmen praised John’s work with the consortium’s LASER and SPLASH experiments, which provided data to John’s ongoing Ph.D. research. He explained, “[Our research] is a very special project, facilitating collaboration at an unprecedented level and duration across oceanographic sciences and communities.”

6486g — John Lodise presents his research at the 2017 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Provided by John Lodise)

The GoMRI community embraces bright and dedicated students like John Lodise and their important contributions. The GoMRI Scholars Program recognizes graduate students whose work focuses on GoMRI-funded projects and builds community for the next generation of ocean science professionals. Visit the consortia website to learn more about their work.

By Stephanie Ellis and Nilde Maggie Dannreuther. Contact sellis@ngi.msstate.edu for questions or comments.

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The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is a 10-year independent research program established to study the effect, and the potential associated impact, of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health, as well as to develop improved spill mitigation, oil detection, characterization and remediation technologies. An independent and academic 20-member Research Board makes the funding and research direction decisions to ensure the intellectual quality, effectiveness and academic independence of the GoMRI research. All research data, findings and publications will be made publicly available. The program was established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP. For more information, visit https://gulfresearchinitiative.org/.

Grad Student Pearson Resolves Statistical Conflict in Submesoscale Ocean Processes

6480a — Jenna conducts a rotating tank experiment to illustrate Ekman dynamics for the Summer@Brown course “Studying the Ocean from Blackboards to Drones.” (Photo by Abigail Bodner)

Ocean models that utilize surface drifter data can provide oil spill responders with important information about the floating oil’s direction and speed as it moves along the ocean surface. However, surface drifters, like the floating material they represent, tend to cluster along strong fronts and eddies. This clustering can result in important consequences for surface drifter turbulence and transport data at smaller scales. Jenna Pearson is investigating the extent that material clustering impacts the accuracy of turbulence calculations and searching for potential factors or processes involved.

Jenna is a Ph.D. student with Brown University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and a GoMRI Scholar with the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment II (CARTHE II).

Her Path

6480b — Jenna (front), Henry Chang (left), and Andrew Smith (right) prepare to launch drift cards and then aerially observe them using a drone during the SPLASH experiment. (Photo by Brodie Pearson)

Jenna developed her scientific interests as an undergraduate student at Northeastern Illinois University. While working as a math tutor, she decided to major in Mathematics after a pre-calculus professor encouraged her to pursue it as a career. She added Earth Science as a second major after serving as an Army National Guard medic in Iraq during her undergraduate studies. “I was only deployed for about a year, but I was a medic for eight years in total,” she said. “I transitioned from being a medic to a math and science major because there were more tools at my disposal to help global populations, rather than just treating a handful of individuals at a time.”

Jenna gained experience using math and science to solve larger problems through summer research programs. She participated in the 2013 Harvard School of Public Health Summer Program in Epidemiology with Dr. Alkes Price, where she used statistical methods to infer consistency across genetic variants associated with increased Type II Diabetes risk. The following year, she spent two summer months with Dr. Bjorn Sandstede at Brown University’s Division of Applied Mathematics, where she modeled microscopic and macroscopic traffic flow. While there, she learned about various tools used for modeling dynamic systems and how to apply data assimilation schemes.

During her summer at Brown University, Jenna met with Dr. Baylor Fox-Kemper who felt that her skillset would fit well with his CARTHE research, and she joined his team as a Ph.D. student in 2015. “The transition to CARTHE-related work was natural because of my desire to look at environmental problems,” said Jenna. “My summer research at Brown involved incorporating Eulerian and Lagrangian data into traffic models, which led me look specifically at the drifters and think critically about the types of statistics we were looking at.”

Her Work

6480c — Jenna conducts an experiment investigating pressure heads and their hydrostatic relation for the Summer@Brown course “Studying the Ocean from Blackboards to Drones.” (Photo by Abigail Bodner)

When examining fluid motion, researchers use a Lagrangian approach (such as drifters) to trace how ocean surface waters flow through an area over time and a Eulerian approach (such as a fixed buoy or weather station) to observe fluid dynamics at a specific location. Jenna initially studied drifters similar to those deployed during CARTHE’s Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD) experiment and Lagrangian Submesoscale Experiment (LASER). She assessed the drifters’ behavior using velocity structure functions to better understand turbulence in a study area. She and her colleagues compared their statistics to those from a Eulerian model and noticed that the drifter-derived Lagrangian functions represented unrealistic conditions compared with other CARTHE research.

Jenna used an algorithm to determine that this disagreement occurred because surface drifters are “biased” at smaller scales when compared to Eulerian calculations, meaning that they don’t sample the velocity field equally at all times. She observed that the convergence of drifters into special flow structures, such as fronts, skews the Lagrangian statistics away from the Eulerian ones. “Previous studies show that drifters tend to cluster in regions of strong frontogenesis or can remain trapped in persistent eddies, leading them to only sample certain portions of the velocity field at a given time,” she explained. “We have found that velocity structure functions are biased below 10 km, but agree at scales above that mark. This means good things for people who would like to know mesoscale statistics, but also means that statistics below 10 km need to be cautiously interpreted.”

Jenna’s team is currently working on an observational study that pairs data from LASER drifters and X-band radar to validate these findings and determine the extent that clustering impacts results. Their preliminary results are consistent with their previous observations. They plan to incorporate more descriptive statistics and probability density functions to determine why bias occurs at smaller scales and how much of the Eulerian-Lagrangian difference can be contributed to this sampling bias. Jenna hopes that her research will help researchers collect and interpret drifter data more accurately, particularly for use in tracking spilled oil and algal blooms.

“A suite of biogeochemical floats is currently being released in various parts of the global ocean. There is then a question as to whether or not we can trust that these drifters represent the entire velocity field or if the statistics we wish to calculate from them may be biased because of their sampling behavior,” said Jenna. “Alongside my assessment of the Eulerian-Lagrangian differences, I am also developing a new theory related to structure functions and spectra that allows us to use biogeochemical data in a similar fashion to conservative tracers like temperature. This will hopefully give a better picture of what is happening in the upper ocean.”

Her Learning

Jenna’s time at the Fox-Kemper lab was a positive experience that helped her grow academically and as an individual. Conducting field work and attending conferences with her colleagues highlighted the deep connection between her interests in public health and ocean health and sparked her desire for future coastal dynamics and ocean biogeochemistry projects. Teaching opportunities during her doctoral research helped her develop a strategic and tested teaching method while learning more about her own field. “I also fine-tuned my music skills by singing and playing guitar in our Fox-Kemper Lab-wide band!” she said.

Her Future

Jenna is applying for post-doc positions and hopes to continue teaching and conducting research as a professor. Before she graduates, she will return to the Summer@Brown Program and teach the course “Studying the Ocean from Blackboard to Drones” to college-bound high school students. She encourages high school students to take diverse science courses and speak with researchers in different fields to get a good sense of what a scientific career path may entail. “We are always learning and questioning our environment, and it can take some time for you to find what makes you get up in the morning,” she said. “Remember: it is your path, and you should define it.”

Praise for Jenna

Dr. Fox-Kemper described Jenna as an incredibly hard-working and determined student and researcher whose work addresses a fundamental paradox of the CARTHE research: that Lagrangian statistics (from drifters) and Eulerian statistics (from gridded models) seemed to disagree at the submesoscale range. He explained that her research was initially difficult to publish, and she received skeptical feedback from reviewers because her results had substantial implications for drifter-based science. Jenna pushed through the obstacles, resulting in a stronger paper and important realizations about removing model uncertainties.

Dr. Fox-Kemper also reflected on her creative and fun-loving nature around the lab, “She’s famous for making science-themed cakes to celebrate defenses and prelims! A recent one involved green-colored goldfish crackers to indicate the effects of hypoxia. She’s a great presence in our lab.”

The GoMRI community embraces bright and dedicated students like Jenna Pearson and their important contributions. The GoMRI Scholars Program recognizes graduate students whose work focuses on GoMRI-funded projects and builds community for the next generation of ocean science professionals. Visit the CARTHE website to learn more about their work.

By Stephanie Ellis and Nilde Maggie Dannreuther. Contact sellis@ngi.msstate.edu for questions or comments.

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Video: Award-Winning Short “Drifting in the Gulf”

5194 “Drifting in the Gulf” is an entertaining, educational video about the process of designing new scientific equipment for studying ocean surface currents. Co-created by Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) and Waterlust, the video features the CARTHE drifter designed by University of Miami scientists, who spent two years testing various structures and materials before finalizing the design for the first environmentally friendly drifter made from 85 percent seawater biodegradable components. “Drifting in the Gulf” was awarded first place in the Ocean 180 Video Challenge, judged by 21,000 middle school students in over 900 classrooms around the world.

“While the video is sometimes silly, it is packed with information about ocean currents, technology, and environmental sustainability. Most importantly, it has a message of dedication and perseverance.” — CARTHE Outreach Coordinator Laura Bracken

An open-access article recently published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology details the development process depicted in “Drifting in the Gulf.” The article information and PDF is available here.

Also available on Vimeo and YouTube.

The full winner’s list for the Ocean 180 Video Challenge is available here.

Influence of River Fronts on Oil Spill Transport (GOMRI) – Satellite-Drifters Study

4738 In April 2017, GoMRI researchers collaborated on a field experiment focused on better understanding how oil movement and transport is impacted by river fronts. Led by RFP-V investigator Dr. Villy Kourafalou (University of Miami (UM)) and Dr. Tamay Özgökmen (UM and principal investigator of the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE)), the experiment featured satellites, drones, research vessels, and drifters working together to track how leaking oil from the former Taylor Energy Site interacts with the open ocean and the Mississippi River Delta, called the Mississippi-TaylorOcean Convergence Zone. Findings from the experiment are improving scientists’ ability to more accurately track transport and oil thickness near river fronts. The field study was led by WaterMapping LLC, who, with contributions from the University of South Florida and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, produced a video describing the experiment. Check it out below.

Video: CONCORDE Releases Time-Lapse Drifter Video

4440 Dr. Brian Dzwonkowski released drifters at the mouth of Mobile Bay. Graduate student Jeff Coogan animated the drifters’ path, which captured a low-wind, high-discharge event.

You can watch the video here.

CONCORDE Oceanography Research Page

CONCORDE Website

Video: CONORDE Animation Describes Drifter Paths

The short clip tracks the paths of drifters released during a research event in the Mobile Bay area as part of the Consortium for oil spill exposure pathways in Coastal River-Dominated Ecosystems (CONCORDE)’s Spring Research Campaign. See below for video to learn more about the drifter deployment.

This animation was created by Jeff Coogan who works with CONCORDE investigator Dr. Brian Dzwonkowski at Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Bob The Drifter Inspires Singapore Classroom to Conduct Oil Spill Research Experiment

Students first created their drifter design on an iPad before constructing it in real life. (Provided by: Jenny Harter) A fourth grade class at Singapore American School found Bob the Drifter and the CARTHE science group while researching ocean science and pollution online.

CARTHE’s drifter experiments, GLAD and SCOPE, are helping scientists understand how ocean surface currents move pollutants such as oil. CARTHE’s visually-engaging experiments and their animated, data-gathering mascot “Bob” motivated these young students to build and test their own ocean drifter!

Students assumed roles as researchers, engineers, communication managers, and outreach coordinators for their experiment and began working on a drifter prototype. They created videos, posters, comics, and even a Popplet mind-map describing what they had learned about drifters tracking oil spills. The class wanted input from CARTHE, so their teacher Jenny Harter emailed CARTHE Outreach Manager Laura Bracken and explained that they wanted to launch their own drifter in Singapore and share data. The CARTHE team was impressed with the students’ passion and professionalism and was eager to help.

The Singapore students, their teacher, and Bracken held a Skype session to discuss drifter design and answer questions about how CARTHE conducted their experiments. The students asked technical questions about how the drifters’ GPS units are powered and how often data is recorded. They used Bracken’s feedback to design and build their drifter prototype, which they tested in their school’s pool. They plan to replace the design’s cardboard components with wood ones to improve their drifter’s float time before the next test. See a video of one of their tests here.

A good scientist knows that communicating research and findings is as important as the experiments themselves, so the class outreach team created a presentation explaining drifters, CARTHE, and tracking oil spills. They shared their presentation with the students at their school to spread awareness about their project. Ultimately, they hope to make sturdier, better functioning drifters like “Bob” that can track oil spills and provide data to researchers in Singapore and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Learn more about the students’ project and keep up with its progress through their class blog!

Visit CARTHE’s outreach page for more information about Student Drifter Programs and other outreach projects.

A Match Made in Florida: Citizens and Scientists Team Up for Research and Education

Teens from StreetWaves deploying a variety of CARTHE drifters near Miami Beach. (Provided by: CARTHE)

What do the Consortium for Advanced Research on Marine Mammal Health Assessment (CARTHE), the International SeaKeepers Society, and Fleet Miami have in common? Ocean research!

Last September, CARTHE researchers from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School partnered with SeaKeepers and Fleet Miami to widen the reach of ocean and oil spill research in the local community. The alliance led a three-day expedition aboard a 54-foot East Bay yacht to test the accuracy of various GPS-enabled surface current drifter models and to introduce students to marine science.

Surface drifters track ocean currents and can help researchers and responders monitor oil’s movement through the ocean following a spill. CARTHE researchers aboard Fleet Miami yacht Shredder deployed and retrieved a variety of surface current drifters, including several biodegradable models.

The CARTHE, Seakeepers, Fleet Miami, and StreetWaves team celebrate a successful experiment. (Provided by: CARTHE)

During the expedition, researchers tested each drifter’s accuracy by monitoring wave height and frequency, water speed, wind speed, and ambient stratification. This data will expand existing ocean current models and help improve emergency response to oil spills, rescue missions, and other disasters.

The team dedicated the expedition’s final day to teaching teenagers about ocean research. The students are members of StreetWaves, a non-profit program in Miami Beach that introduces underprivileged youth to surfing, paddle boarding, and sailing. Aboard Shredder, CARTHE researchers showed the students how the drifters work and explained why data from ocean monitoring devices is so important to ocean health. The students then experienced ocean research first-hand by helping deploy the drifters.

A student watches CARTHE scientist Guillaume Novelli demonstrate how to measure wind with a handheld anemometer. (Provided by: CARTHE)

This exciting expedition was a warm up for CARTHE’s collaborations with SeaKeepers, which the consortia hopes to continue in future research.

Watch CARTHE Outreach Coordinator Laura Bracken describe the Drifter Design Expedition and Outreach.

CARTHE brings together over 50 of the nation’s top ocean experts to share knowledge and explore the fate of the hydrocarbons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

CARTHE graduate student David Ortiz-Suslow deploying drifters just off the coast of Miami Beach. (Provided by: CARTHE)

The International SeaKeepers Society works directly with the yachting community and enables them to take full advantage of their unique potential to promote ocean research, conservation, and education efforts and to raise awareness about global ocean issues. Watch a video of SeaKeepers’ Highlights for 2014!

More information about these organizations is available on the CARTHE, SeaKeepers, and Fleet Miami Facebook pages!

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Student Drifter Competition for Coastal Oil Experiment Has Cascading Wins

The winning designs “Hannibal” and “The Aggressor” are field tested just prior to the experiment. Teacher Dana Fields (left) and her students from Rickards High School Environmental Systems class were able to accompany Dr. Nico Wienders (center) to the SCOPE deployment site at John Beasley Park in Okaloosa Island, FL. (Photo provided by Deep-C)

It was a tall order, but high school students rose to the challenge: they integrated physics, engineering, and scientific curiosity and created functional data-gathering drifters. They also became part of a scientific effort to improve predictions of how oil moves through coastal waters and onto shores.

In December at Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, scientists deployed the winning student designs along with 200+ specialized drifters during a three-week long Surfzone Coastal Oil Pathways Experiment (SCOPE), a first-of-its-kind effort for Gulf of Mexico modeling studies.

SCOPE is a project of the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment, or CARTHE. Scientists and education specialists with CARTHE collaborated with colleagues from the Deep Sea to Coast Connectivity (Deep-C) research consortium and incorporated local schools as part of the project to extend the wins of this successful experiment beyond the scientific community.

Florida teachers and students from the Maritime and Science Technology Academy (MAST), the Maritime Magnet program at South Broward High School, and the International Baccalaureate program at Rickards High School in Tallahassee worked with scientists and education specialists to learn about drifters. Then the students designed, built, and tested their own devices.

A student from Rickards High School tests the “Duck Dodger” for its ability to right itself – a criteria for success. (Photo provided by Deep-C)

The drifters had to be sturdy, biodegradable, colorful, and inexpensive. While holding a GPS unit, they had to float upright in the water. They had to be light enough for researchers to easily deploy them in large numbers, yet have enough weight to prevent wind blowing them away. Students had to factor in weather, currents, boats, and other contributors to water movement. Though difficult, students were excited, enthusiastic, and inspired to succeed.

Melissa Fernandez, teacher of Engineering II and III at MAST, spoke about the allure of this learning opportunity with potential for long-term education impact: “They [the students] realize this project has a purpose. They’re not just building something for themselves but for a much larger community. And that is incredibly motivating for a high school student.”

Tamay Özgökmen, Director of CARTHE and a professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami, believes that scientists can affect student learning by involving them in an active experiment: “The way to know more is through curiosity and scientific experimentation, and learning more about nature is a good way to appreciate it at various levels.”

Students from MAST Academy make minor adjustments to their ocean drifter before deploying it in the waters of Biscayne Bay. (Photo provided by CARTHE)

Integrating disciplines and coming up with a workable product requires a valuable, yet hard to develop, skill set. Özgökmen explains, “They have to actively read and learn and think for this; very different than one-way information flow from TV, internet, or some traditional classroom activities.” Students had to combine creative energies with engineering efforts, developing and testing multiple approaches to meet drifter criteria. Students also had access to a real-time data management system, allowing them to see drifters in action and think about how ocean current flows and which designs work better than others.

Researchers aspired to encourage students to become active contributors to science. “In this information era, many kids assume that everything is known about the planet and they can just google it, while in fact, we have a very limited understanding of the ocean,” Özgökmen said. “Participation in a real ocean experiment gives them a can-do attitude.”

MAST Academy students field test their devices to see if they are buoyant and can stand up to breaking waves in Biscayne Bay. (Photo provided by CARTHE)

Nico Wienders, a physical oceanographer at Florida State University and member of the Deep-C Consortium and CARTHE, worked with the class at Rickards High School. He believes that scientists connecting directly with students, sharing their knowledge and practical, first-hand experience, promotes a deeper level of understanding about the oceans, drifters, buoyancy, and instrument design: “The students not only had to understand new ideas and a new theoretical framework, but they also had to put it immediately into application by building their own drifters.”

CARTHE outreach manager Laura Bracken said that because students designed and built the drifters on their own “they were true inventors.” She continues, “We provided them with information about why we build drifters the way we do, but then set them free to make better drifters. Their challenge was to come up with the next great design and they exceeded all our expectations.”

The team from Maritime Magnet Program at South Broward High School at Whisky Creek. (Photo provided by CARTHE)

But students were not the only ones who benefited. “The collaboration with students was also beneficial in a purely scientific manner,” explained Wienders. “They came with unbiased, new and refreshing ideas for the drifter designs. After years of practice, we sometimes get blunted, influenced, and many of us use similar ideas for designs. The interaction with the students was very rejuvenating, as their creativity is still unbounded.”

Purposely incorporating teachers and students with an ongoing scientific project that fills pressing information needs is a win on many levels: educators directly interact with experts and transfer current science and technology into their teaching; students excitingly engage in hands-on, novel, application-based ocean science; scientists gain new perspectives and increased motivation from student energy and enthusiasm; and society gains a better pool of next-generation-scientists to address future complex

The team from MAST Academy at Biscayne Bay. (Photo provided by CARTHE)

environmental and public dangers. And the succession of benefits keep coming.

Learn more about this project and future opportunities at www.carthe.org/. Read the Deep-C Voices from the Field blog about Rickards Students Successful Drifter Deployment. See pictures of drifter testing by students from Maritime Magnet Program at South Broward High School and fromMAST Academy.

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This research was made possible in part by grants from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) to the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE)and to the Deep sea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Deep-C) Consortium. The GoMRI is a 10-year independent research program established to study the effect, and the potential associated impact, of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health, as well as to develop improved spill mitigation, oil detection, characterization and remediation technologies. An independent and academic 20-member Research Board makes the funding and research direction decisions to ensure the intellectual quality, effectiveness and academic independence of the GoMRI research. All research data, findings and publications will be made publicly available. The program was established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP. For more information, visit http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/.