Smithsonian Publicizes CARTHE Drifters Research

– March 6, 2014

(Click to enlarge) Drifters staged on deck of the R/V Walton Smith, ready for deployment in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists launched over 300 drifters as part of the Grand Lagrangian Deployment, or GLAD, in the summer of 2012. (Picture courtesy of CARTHE)

The Smithsonian Ocean Portal posted a story on the GoMRI-funded CARTHE project, a multi-year research effort to study how the ocean moves.

The article describes how CARTHE scientists use drifters to collect real-time data about surface and below-surface currents from ship to shore Gulf waters. The data are being used right now to improve prediction models for future oil spills.

The Smithsonian story begins: “Throw a message in a bottle into the vast ocean and where does it go? The answer to this question is not just a romantic curiosity.” Read the entire Ocean Portal story.

For background, read about CARTHE’s first drifter deployment GLAD: A Grand Experiment for Transformative Research in Gulf Oil Studies and their recent second deployment SCOPE that used drifters, dye, and drones to Track the Last Mile before Oil Meets the Beach. You can Follow the Journey of CARTHE Drifters in the Gulf and learn how the Drifters in the Path of Hurricane Isaac Provide New Insights on Ocean Currents.

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

This research was made possible in part by a grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) to the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). 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- 2017 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).