CURRENT DIRECTION, ICE - MOVEMENT - DIRECTION and other data from DRIFTING PLATFORM from 1976-04-05 to 1991-10-16 (NCEI Accession 9300195)

The drifting buoy data in this accession was collected from 120 stations over 15 year period by US Coast Guard, Groton, CT. The data was collected between April 5, 1976 and October 16, 1991.

This data type contains time series ocean circulation data determined by tracking the movement of drifting buoys, drogues or other instrumented devices. Movement is reported as point-to-point geographic locations determined by shore-based, surface ship, aircraft or satellite observations. Data from both ocean currents and sea ice movement can be reported in this format over time periods ranging from minutes to months. Directions and speeds between individual observations may be computed from these data and presented in graphic or summary listing form to provide information on circulation patterns and mass transport in offshore and nearshore regions.

Platform name (for platform acquiring data or deploying device), drogue characteristics, start and end positions and times, and observation frequency (if constant time interval) are reported for each series of observations. The data record comprises position, date and time for each observation. Other surface meteorological or oceanographic parameters (e.g., water temperature and salinity, air temperature and pressure, wind, waves) and subsurface data (depth, pressure, temperature) may also be reported. Text records may be used to report general comments or to describe individual drogue observations.

The water depth and other drifting bouy data submitted by Mr. Don Murphy has been processed by NODC and is currently available in F156 Drifting Buoy file format.