Objectives
The Global Drifter Program (GDP) is the principle component of the Global Surface Drifting Buoy Array, a branch of NOAA's Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and a scientific project of the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP). Its objectives are to:
1. Maintain a global 5x5 degree array of 1250 ARGOS-tracked surface drifting buoys to meet the need for an accurate and globally dense set of in-situ observations of mixed layer currents, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, winds and salinity, and
2. Provide a data processing system for scientific use of these data.
These data support short-term (seasonal to interannual) climate predictions as well as climate research and monitoring.
Management
The GDP is managed with close cooperation between:
Manufacturers in private industry, who build the drifters according to closely monitored specifications;
NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), which coordinates deployments, processes the data, archives the data, maintaines META files describing each drifter deployed, develops and distributes data-based products, and updates the GDP website; and
NOAA's Joint Institute for Marine Observations (JIMO), which supervises the industry, upgrades the technology, purchases drifters, and develops enhanced data sets.
Liasons between the GDP and individual research programs that deploy drifters are maintained by Drs. Peter Niiler (JIMO) and Rick Lumpkin (AOML).
Operational Partners
The GDP could not achieve its goals without the contributions of the following operational partners:
International
Argentina
Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero
Australia
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Brazil
Centro de Hidrografia da Marinha
Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
Canada
France
L'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
India
National Institute of Oceanography
National Institute of Ocean Technology
Italy
Instituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS)
Republic of Korea
National Oceanographic Research Institute (NORI)
Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF)
Mexico
Centro de Investigación Científica y Educación Superior de Ensenada
New Zealand
Meteorological Service of New Zealand
South Africa
Spain
Instituto Canario de Ciencias Marinas
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
United Kingdom
United States
Marine Resources Research Institute (MRRI)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution