Global Drifter Program partners with the National Data Buoy Center to support US Navy-funded Deployments

For many years, the Global Drifter Program’s (GDP) drifter operations center at NOAA/AOML has partnered with the National Weather Service’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) to coordinate drifter deployments during TAO and DART operations. These deployments help the operation center maintain a distributed global array of GDP drifters for improved weather prediction and ocean monitoring. Recently, GOMO and the GDP extended this collaboration to support deployment of US Navy-purchased commercial Spotter drifters alongside GDP drifters, on the upcoming NDBC TAO/DART mooring servicing cruise of the R/V Discovery.

NOAA’s GDP has benefited from Navy-sponsored drifter deployments and development opportunities, and the program is happy to help further this collaboration and expand opportunities. Most recently, an Office of Naval Research-funded cruise deployed GDP Directional Wave Spectra Drifters off Iceland, delivering critical data in real time to NOAA operational centers.