Near-surface drifter experiment in the coastal ocean near Martha’s Vineyard

• Author: I. I. Rypina, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.


• Names of other authors: A. R. Kirincich, L. J. Pratt.


• Oral or poster: oral.


• Abstract:
  In August 2011, a near-surface drifter experiment was carried out, during which 80 drifters were near-simultaneously deployed in the coastal ocean just south of Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The drifters were left to float freely for 3 days, their positions sampled at 1 min intervals, and then recovered. The deployment site spanning approximately 6x10 km, was overlapping with the footprint of the high-resolution high frequency radar system, allowing for the comparison between the radar- and drifter-based velocity estimates. This talk will present the results of the experiment, with the focus on the radar and drifter intercomparison and on the applicability and utility of the dynamical systems approach, including the recently developed complexity method for estimating Lagrangian Coherent Structures, to studying transport and exchanges in the coastal ocean.