CURRENT DIRECTION, ICE - MOVEMENT - DIRECTION and other data from DRIFTING PLATFORM from 1986-10-14 to 1988-09-30 (NCEI Accession 8900219)

This dataset includes ocean drifter data from drifting buoy in the Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Sea, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Gulf of Mexico from 1986-10-14 to 1988-09-30.

Data has been processed by NODC to the NODC standard Ocean Drifter (F156) format.

The F156 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.