Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Ocean Current Mapping with Indigenous Drifting Buoys


Affiliations
1 National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India
 

Ocean current transports mass and energy around the world and it is the driving force of climate and it regulates local weather. Drifting buoy plays an important role in mapping world’s ocean water circulations and its study. The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), MoES, Chennai has indigenized drifting buoy with the Indian Satellite (INSAT) telemetry and global positioning system receiver to acquire geo-positional updates to precisely calculate ocean’s mixed layer surface current. The drifting buoy acquires hourly positional data (24 data/day) compared to ARGOS drifters which has limited pass in Indian tropical regions. The NIOT deployed drifting buoy in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea during monsoon seasons of 2012–2019 to study the Indian Ocean currents. This article reports about the mixed layer surface currents mapped by the indigenous drifting buoy in the Bay of Bengal.

Keywords

Drifting Buoy, GPS Receiver, Mixed Layer Surface Currents, Mesoscale Eddies.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Ebbesmeyer, C. C. and Ingraham, W. J., Pacific toy spill fuels ocean current pathways research. EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 1994, 75(37), 425–430.

  • www.beachcombers.org (accessed on 7 September 2018).

  • Richardson, P. L., Drifting derelicts in the North Atlantic. Progr.Oceanogr., 1985, 14, 1883–1902.

  • Poulan, P., Menna, M. and Gerin, R., Mapping Mediterranian tidal currents with surface drifters, Deep Sea Research Part 1, Oceanographic Research papers-138, 2018.

  • www.moes.gov.in (accessed on 7 September 2018).

  • http://www.aoml.noaa.gov (accessed on 7 September 2018).

  • Srinivasan, R., Zacharia, S., Kankara, R. S. and Sudhakar, T., Design and performance of GPRS communication based drifting buoy for measurement of upper layer current in coastal area. J. Ocean Technol., 2016, 11(2), 75–82.

  • Sudhakar, T., Dash, S. K., Rao, R. R., Srinivasan, R., Zacharia, S., Atmanand, M. A., Subramaniam, B. R. and Nayak, S., Detection of sea-surface temperature anomaly in the equatorial region of Bay of Bengal using indigenous Lagrangian drifter. Curr. Sci., 2013, 104(2), 177–178.

  • Atmanand, M. A., Developments in underwater technologies – Indian scenario. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Underwater Technologies, UT13’ IEEE; https://ieeexplore.ieee.org

  • Shijo Zacharia, Seshasayanan, R., Srinivasan, R., Thamarai, T., Tata Sudhakar, Rao, R. R. and Atmanand, M. A., Design, development and validation of smart sensor drifting node with INSAT telemetry for oceanographic applications. Curr. Sci., 2015, 106, 831–840.

  • Srinivasan, R., Gowthaman, V., Zacharia, S., Thamarai, T., Sudhakar, T. and Atmanand, M. A., Design and field validation of Lagrangian drifters with INSAT communication for oceanographic and meteorological applications. Indian J. Geo-Mar. Sci., 2015, 44(3).

  • Chelton, D. B., Schlax, M. G. and Samelson, R. M., Global observations of nonlinear mesoscale eddies. Progr. Oceanogr., 2011, 91(2), 167–216.

  • Manley, T. O., Drifters, drogues, and circulation, hands-on oceanography. Mag. Oceanogr., 2010, 23(4), 165–171.

  • Austin, J. and Atkinson, S., The design and testing of small low cost GPS tracked surface drifters. Est. Coasts, 2004, 27, 1026– 1029.

  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography Reference Series, SIO Series 93/28, World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Report 108/93, 1993.

  • Rogers, K. G. and Goodbred Jr, S. L., The Sundarbans and Bengal Delta. The World’s Largest Tidal Mangrove and Delta System, pp. 181–187; http://doi:10.1007/978-94-017-8029-2_18

  • Shankar, D., McCreary, J. P. and Shetye, S. R., Dynamics of the East India coastal current analytic solutions forced by interior ekman pumping and local alongshore winds. J. Geophys. Res., 1996, 101(C6), 13975–13991.


Abstract Views: 146

PDF Views: 84




  • Ocean Current Mapping with Indigenous Drifting Buoys

Abstract Views: 146  |  PDF Views: 84

Authors

R. Srinivasan
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India
Shijo Zacharia
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India
V. Gowthaman
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India
Tata Sudhakar
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India
M. A. Atmanand
National Institute of Ocean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Chennai 600 100, India

Abstract


Ocean current transports mass and energy around the world and it is the driving force of climate and it regulates local weather. Drifting buoy plays an important role in mapping world’s ocean water circulations and its study. The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), MoES, Chennai has indigenized drifting buoy with the Indian Satellite (INSAT) telemetry and global positioning system receiver to acquire geo-positional updates to precisely calculate ocean’s mixed layer surface current. The drifting buoy acquires hourly positional data (24 data/day) compared to ARGOS drifters which has limited pass in Indian tropical regions. The NIOT deployed drifting buoy in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea during monsoon seasons of 2012–2019 to study the Indian Ocean currents. This article reports about the mixed layer surface currents mapped by the indigenous drifting buoy in the Bay of Bengal.

Keywords


Drifting Buoy, GPS Receiver, Mixed Layer Surface Currents, Mesoscale Eddies.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi11%2F1778-1781