2013 Drifter Tracks

resolving transport pathways through New England's estuarine and continental shelf waters and beyond

updated every two hours

See a GoogleMap of just this month's tracks
Drifter construction manuals
How to get involved with the project
To see this week's tracks overlaid on other fields (sst, models, etc), go to the MARACOOS site and click on "Drifter" layer.
Description of the drifters.
Blog about students deploying drifters with our MATE colleagues
Drifter newsletters
See drifters documented on the NERACOOS website
Drifters in the news
Download raw data of this years drifters
Raw statistics.
Download tracks stored in historical database.
Calculate and reserve a "deployment id"
Document a drifter deployment
Document a drifter recovery

Last year's webpage.

To get PYTHON and/or MATLAB processing routines, email James Manning for the latest versions.

Get the Flash Player to see this animation.

To see information on individual clusters, click the links in the following cronological table

Institution (data)	Deployer (cruise report)	Date Deployed (animation)	Dropsite	#units	Science	Status (customized googlemap)	Type of Unit (photo)	Fate (photo)
Educational Passages	Baldwin	12 May 2012	Gulf Stream	5	educational	done	boats under sail	boats under sail; blown ashore by two tropical storms Alberto and Beryll landing 25 May through 29 May, and relaunched a few weeks later. Two washed ashore in Newfoundland on 20 August, recovered with help from Clarence Careen and Alphonsus Murphy, refurbished by Dwight Howse, and redeployed on Oct 11th just west of the Grand Banks. One apparently went down in Hurrican Raphael mid-ocean. One landed in South Wales, was redeployed SW of the Azores at end of March 2013 and and landed on a sand beach on the NW corner of Portugal on Jan 28, 2014.
Penn State/GLERL	Boughton/Schwab	07 May 2012 17 May 2012 25 Sep 2012 09 Nov 2012 07 Dec 2012	Lake Erie	5	educational/science	done	wood Eddie	1st died after 2 days, 2nd apparently went over the falls on 4 June, 3rd failed in late June, 4th lost ballast after a few weeks, 5th apparently lost flotation, washed up a few towns south of Buffalo, and the 6th hungup a few miles prior to the falls
NOAA Teachers at Sea	Annetta/Haas/Smolowitz	01 June 2012	Mid-Atlantic Bight	4	educational/turtles	done	wood Eddie	Teacher-made surface drifters get away from the tagged turtles. Of the three entrained into Gulf Stream, one encountered a "warm core ring", another a "cold core ring", and one apparently went down with in the wrath of Hurricane Rafael in mid-October but then cam back to life.
Cape Henlopen High School/Univ. of Delaware	Geppert/Luther	20 Aug 2012 22 Oct 2012	Mid Atlantic Bight Mid Atlantic Ridge	1 1	educational	done	experimental Dans	The first deployed mid-shelf, headed northeast, and started failing in early October. The second, deployed mid-ocean, ...
NOAA SEFSC	Mansfield	20 Oct 2012 22 Oct 2012	Gulf of Mexico	2 2	turtles	done	Eddie/Bucket pairs	diverged significantly with one headed west and ...
Educational Passages	Baldwin	02 Dec 2012	Gulf Stream	3	educational	underway	boats under sail	deployed Dec 1st, 2012 off N. Carolina by Joe Robillard; one found by a small boat fishermen near Guernsey Island (off the NW corner of France) on Feb 16th, 2014, one got stuck in what is apparently a "garbage patch" SW of the Azores for nearly a year, one did a gyre loop back to SC after a few months.
SMCC	Long/Tarbox	12 Feb 2013	Casco Bay	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	usual southward flow for first month through a series of Northeasters that eventually, on the morning of 7 March, shipwrecked it on the outer beach of North Truro Massachusetts where it was apparently buried in the sand
Swampscott High	Wilbur	13 Mar 2013	Mass Bay	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by lobsterman Justin Mahoney from Nahant, stalled into Cape Cod Bay for a few weeks, headed quickly to Great South Channel, stalled there for a few weeks, traveled across the Northeast Channel on to the Scotian Shelf, and finally died
NOAA/PIFSC/TAMAR	Mansfield	4-8 Mar 2013	off Brazil	4	turtles	done	3 buckets & 1 eddie	one failed after 1st day but showed up a week later on the beach, the others documented quick advection south along the coast and ended up in the same area
Dartmouth High	Brumsted	08 Apr 2013	SNE Shelf	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by New Bedford scalloper, Carlos Pereira, from the F/V Acores off Wellfleet, washed into Nauset Marsh after a few days of easterlies, recovered by Suzanne Phillips, an ornithologist for the Town of Chatham, picked up by Jim Manning, redeployed as GLPCS by ....
Global Learning Charter School	Harris	08 Apr 2013	SNE Shelf	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by New Bedford scalloper, Carlos Pereira, from the F/V Acores off Wellfleet, washed into Nauset Marsh after a few days of easterlies, recovered by Scott Rushnak while picking mussels, picked up by Janice Dill, head of the "environmetal challenge" group of home schooled children, and redeployed at DHS by ...
New England Science and Sailing	Horrigan	24 Apr 2013	NJ Shelf	2	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed mid-shelf by a scalloper out of Stonington, Ct, Bob Bomster. One apparently failed with only a few GPS fixes while the other looked healthy for about a week and then started to fail as well
Global Learning Charter and Falmouth High School	Harris/Reynolds/Milliken	25 Apr 2013	Nantucket Sound	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by Zephyr Education boat with Falmouth High School students aboard, visited Long Island Sound in early May, returned to shelf, and finally went dead in late June off NY
NOAA/PIFSC/TAMAR	Mansfield	01 May 2013	off Brazil	4	turtles	done	3 buckets & 1 Eddie	a few apparently failed on 1st day, but the other two documented quick advection NORTH and then died
Newburyport High	Masterson	10 May 2013	Southern Maine Coast	2	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by fishermen from Newburyport MA, one episodic with transmissions died in the Eastern Maine Coastal Current in late August and the other traveled into the Fundy tide (over 7000 kilometers logged) before it landed in Berwick Nova Scotia in early November.
Dartmouth High and Environmental Challenge Group	Brumsted/Dill	12 May 2013	Georges Bank	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by Fairhaven lobsterman, George Beckford , from the F/V Sallie and Catherine on Georges Bank but only lasted a few weeks
NOAA/SEFSC	Mansfield	21 May 2013	Gulf of Mexico	4	turtles	done?	2 buckets & 2 Eddies	strong westward flow, two failed in 1st week and two in 2nd week
Patriot Boats	Tietje/Bowden	24 May 2013	Nantucket Sound	1	experimental	done	1st bamboo "Cassie" deployment	deployed by Massasoit's Jen & Colin, came ashore a few days later on Martha's Vineyard where USCG's Gary Kovack recovered it
Patriot Boats	Tietje/Bowden	03 June 2013	Nantucket Sound	1	experimental	done	2nd bamboo "Cassie" deployment	redeployed by Capt Bowden, oscillated with tide for about a week and went silent near the time of the tsunami on June 13th
Boy Scouts & Retirement Center	Baldwin	03 June 2013	Gulf Stream	2	educational	done	boats under sail	deployed near Puerto Rico off the State of Maine training vessel and came ashore a little more than a month later in Nova Scotia
GLERL/U. Michigan	McCormick/Ruberg	07 June 2013	Lake Huron	1	dispersion?	done	Wood Eddie	1st in Lake Huron, skirted south shore, and came ashore near Thompson's Harbor State Park on July 2nd.
Lawrence Middle School/Zephyr Education	Reynolds	12 June 2013	Nantucket Sound	2	experimental	done	1st drogued "Colin" and 2nd bamboo "Cassie"	surface and drogue diverged! (photo by Celeste Cruse) Surface unit picked out of the water by a mariner, brought to Oak Bluffs Harbormaster, and then returned to Falmouth on a Patriot Boat. Sub-surface unit oscillated with the Vineyard Sound tide for days, got hung up in shallows outside Waquoit Bay for a few weeks and then, on July 12, let loose on after the thimble chaffed through the buoy metal. Finally, the buoy landed on Horseneck Beach on 15 July and saved by homeowner, Janet Donati.
Swampscott High	Wilbur	22 Jun 2013	Mass Bay	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed by lobsterman Justin Mahoney from Nahant; picked out of the NE Channel (with broken spars) by Nova Scotian swordfisherman, Graydon Mood, who will send back the transmitter.
Gulf of Maine Institute	Lockwood	04 July 2013 28 July 2013 25 Oct 2013	Digby, NS Barrington, NS Barrington, NS	1 1 1	educational	done	wood Eddies	one deployed by Todd Sowers, whale watch boat captain from Digby, NS, traveled deep into Bay of Fundy, died month later; one deployed at shelfedge, died 3-weeks later; one deployed by Fisherman, Gradon Wood out of Lower Woods Harbor, that died, for whatever reason, about a week into its travel.
MITS	Brumsted	10 July 2013	Buzzards Bay	1	demo	done	Bamboo Cassie	deployed by OceanQuest; washed ashore and recovered from Grey Lane Beach the next morning
U.Michigan/GLERL/Purdue	McCormick/Ruberg/Troy	14 July 2013	Lake Michigan	6	dispersion	done	3 Eddies and 3 Eddys	headed southeast, along the coast, by Chicago, up north, and then went ashore on the eastern beach on about 9 Novemeber.
Institute of Florida Studies	Nordquist	19 July 2013	Tampa Bay	6	education	done		most ashore within a week
Massasoit Community College	McFadden	23 July 2013	Cape Cod Bay	1	educational	done	wood Eddie	deployed off Plymouth, MA (Photos courtesy of the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance and Capt. John Whale Watching Boats) and died in Mid-Atlantic Bight
UNH CMB UNH CMB UNH CMB UNH CMB	Watson/Goldstein	7 Aug 2013 12 Aug 2013 19 Aug 2013 06 Sep 2013	Great Bay	2 2 1 1	lobsters	done done done done	buckets	1) both ashore with a day or two 2) one failed to give good fixes and the other ashore in a few days 3) one went up river and the other only gave one fix a few hours after deployment 4) deployed at mouth of river and went all the way up into the bay in single tide
UCONN	Whitney/Jia	21 Aug 2013	Long Island Sound	6	river input	done	bamboo Cassies	one picked up by mariner, one landed on Fishers Island, one failed leaving the sound, one failed mid-shelf, one went to Block Island, and one went off Delaware
SEA/Harvard/PatriotBoats	Zettler/Tietje	25 & 31 Aug 2013	Nantucket Sound	3	instrument tests	done	both bamboo and aluminum surface drifters & one leaf-bag-drogue (Erik Zettler pics)	deployed by undergrad students; the bamboo surface unit exited the sound north of Nantucket and then died on Norteast Channel on November 1st; the aluminum surface drifter went silent on 10 September, recovered by Chatham's Harbormaster Stuart Smith, and picked up by Miles Manning; the 12m drogue (25 Aug) dragged bottom on Tuckernuck Shoals until Dick Limeburner recovered it in mid-October
UMASS-SMAST/WBNERR	Brown/Smith	06 Sep 2013	SNE Shelf	2	IOOS demo	done	7m and 12m drogues & several student-built mini-drifters	these drogued drifters and student-built mini-drifters were deployed off R/V Mytilus along with UMASS gliders. The drogue at 7-meters passed through Quick's Hole into Vineyard Sound, got hung up in shallows near Menemsha on 18-21 Sep, hungup again on Middle Ground until Dennis McGillicuddy recovered it from his Whaler on 23 Oct.. The other drogue at 12m went southwest until it stopped transmitting on November 1st near the Hudson Shelf valley. Some of the mini-drifters were found on the beach a few days later by various Martha's Vineyard dogs like Genevieve Snyder's Labradoodle, Gail Gothard's lab "Hitch", and Jay Durst's golden retrievers "Harry and Jesse".
U.Michigan/GLERL	McCormick/Ruberg/Anderson	06 Sep 2013	Lake Erie	3	dispersion	done	3 Eddies	one died a few weeks into its travel and the other two came ashore in early Oct on the Northern Shore
UNH	Salisbury	10 Sep 2013	Gulf of Mexico	2	acidifcation	done	2 instrumented drogues	couple short deployments
Rutgers	Kohut/Glenn	12 Sep 2013	NJ Shelf	1	IOOS demo	done	2by4 Eddie mast	assembled by IMS oceanography class and deployed; went silent on 22 September as it approached Long Island
New England Science and Sailing	Horrigan	16 Sep 2013	SNE Shelf	1	educational	done	bamboo Cassie	deployed mid-shelf by scallopers out of Stonington, Ct, Joe and Bill Bomster; died mid-Nov
Truro Central and Brewster Family School	Klimkosky/O'Leary/Skayne	20 Sep 2013	East of Cape Cod	2	educational	done	TCS's wood Eddie and Brewster Family School's bamboo Cassie	deployed by fishermen from Truro, MA; TCS unit quit on 23 Nov while BFS unit got into the Gulf Stream and died our near the Grand Banks in late January 2014
Scotish Gov't	Hughes	3 & 12 Oct 2013	Scotland	9	HF Radar	done	4x4 mast	Several failures, for whatever reason, within the first week. Only two survived more than a few weeks.
Massasoit Community College	McFadden	26 Oct 2013	Cape Cod Bay	1	educational	done	bamboo Cassie	deployed off Plymouth, MA by whale watch boat; died in early Decmeber off the shelf
SMCC	Long/Tarbox	31 Oct 2013 07 Nov 2013	Casco Bay	2	educational	done	wood Eddie	First headed northeastward and washed up near Harpswell, ME 37 hours later Second was retained near Cashes Ledge for weeks, finally headed to Georges Bank, and then landed just north of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on Feb 12, 2014 and reported by homeowner Mr. John Watkins a few months later in pretty good shape with one sail missing.
Educational Passages	Baldwin	08 Nov 2013	North Atlantic	9	educational	underway	boats under sail	two deployed off N. Carolina by Joe Robillard two shipped to the Canaries, and five to be deployed by New England offshore Lobstermen Todd Ellis, Bob Colbert, and Bro Cote
Endicott/MA-DMF	Stauffer	04 Nov 2013	Boston Harbor	3	eel grass	done	buckets	One got hungup on outer "Green Island" for the first day, broke loose, and headed north to land in Magnolia,MA mid-day 7 Nov. The other two traveled quickly in and out of the harbor and landed on the south shore of Winthrop on the morning of 6 Nov.
Nauset High/Mass Audubon	Bell/MacManus/Prescott	02 and 15 Nov 2013	Cape Cod Bay	4	turtles	done	"Woody" the turtle and 3 Irina surface drifters	3 (including Woody) recovered by Bob Prescott and one by Eastham DNR
Nauset High/Mass Audubon	Bell/MacManus/Prescott	22 Nov	Cape Cod Bay	2	turtles	done	"Woody" the turtle and a Irina surface drifter	Woody recovered by Eastham DNR, surface drifter recovered from sanctuary shores
NOAA/PIFSC/TAMAR/UCF	Mansfield	7 Dec 2013	off Brazil	2	turtles	done	buckets?	one apparently failed on deployment, the other documented quick advection south along the coast and then died on 28 December.
Scotish Gov't	Hughes	11 Dec 2013	Scotland	8	HF Radar	underway	4x4 mast	headed NNE, eastern-most 3 apparently ashore on Shetland Islands late December, and the others and ...
UCONN	Dierssen	6 Jan 2014	Florida Keys	3	seaweed drift	done	buckets	All three escaped to the ocean side in the first day or two and then recovered off shore of Sugarloaf Key on 10 January.
UCONN	Dierssen	11 Jan 2014	Florida Keys	3	seaweed drift	done	buckets	All three came ashore on the west coast of Long Key late in the day Jan 15th.
UCONN	Dierssen	17 Jan 2014	Florida Keys	2	seaweed drift	done	buckets	All two escaped to the ocean side in the first day or two and then recovered off shore of Long Key on 19 January.
Cantebury School/USF	Cummings	Mar 2014	Florida Shelf	1	education	planned	Irina surface drifter

Note: Most units are prepared by marine science students. The majority are standard "surface drifters" marking only the top 1-meter of the water column, but some units, as in the case of EP boats, track the wind and wave at the surface and some have subsurface drogues typically centered at 10m-15m below the surface. For details, call 508-495-2211 or email james.manning@noaa.gov.