Global Drifter Program

A global array of satellite tracked drifting buoys

The Global Drifter Program (GDP) is managed and run at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and it sustains a global array of approximately 1,250 satellite tracked drifting buoys designed to measure 15 m depth currents, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure and surface waves. The program is a fully-implemented part of the Global Observing initiatives funded by NOAA. Datasets are available via ERDAP files at SIO or other data archive sites.

The Global Drifter Program and SWOT AdAC

If opportunities arise, several clusters of GDP drifters will be deployed from ships of opportunity during the AdAC Intense Observation Period (IOP) beneath crossings off the Pacific coast. The sampling with be set to a sub-hourly duty cycle to capture smaller scales. The cluster of drifters will separate over time and this will provide measures of the dispersiveness of the currents. Theses data sets will support the validation of surface currents and kinematical properties measured by the SWOT satellite and provide the mesoscale circulation structure needed by collaborative groups.

SWOT AdAC Consortium members can get in touch with Luca Centurioni (lcenturioni@ucsd.edu) for more information about the Global Drifter Program.