Safe Sanctuaries 2005 Drift Card Release: Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Safe Sanctuaries 2005 Drift Card Release: From April 19-21, 2005, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted a pollution response drill, "Safe Sanctuaries 2005." This drill was an opportunity for NOAA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the State of Florida to work a simulated oil spill that impacted NOAA trust resources and used NOAA's scientific expertise and capabilities. One component of this effort was the modeling of floating pollutants. In this case, the spilled oil was simulated by the release of hundreds of drift cards at the site of the hypothetical spill on Elbow Reef (25° 09' N, 80° 15' W), in the upper portion of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Our purpose was to learn where floating pollutants might go, under a variety of environmental conditions. We hope that people who eventually find the cards will let us know when and where they find them. The drift cards being released are designed to naturally degrade within a few months' time.
This effort was similar to NOAA's Hawaii Drift Card Study, which was conducted from 2002-2004. In that study, volunteers released a batch of 100 cards about once a month from Barber's Point, near Honolulu, Hawaii.
If you've found one of our cards, please tell us where and when you found it, and its color, then click Submit Report. Providing this information is completely voluntary. We appreciate your help with our study!
Fields marked with a red asterisk * are required.
Preliminary results:
Safe Sanctuaries 2005 Factsheet (894K PDF file) Basic information about our response drill in a one-page factsheet.
Safe Sanctuaries 2005 Video Links to downloads of the video created of the Safe Sanctuaries emergency response drill held April 19th through 21st, 2005 in the Florida Keys.
News From NOAA (41K PDF file) An April 7, 2005 press release describing the Safe Sanctuaries emergency response drill in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
OR&R's Hawaii Drift Card Study Read about an exploratory study that NOAA OR&R scientists recently conducted to learn more about the direction of ocean currents off Oahu, Hawaii.
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary This site describes Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary resources and their protection, as well as current education and information projects and programs offered by the sanctuary.
National Marine Sanctuary Program Information about our nation's marine sanctuaries--their history and current management, their scientific and educational programs, and their continuing efforts to conserve our ocean and coastal resources.
Office of Response & Restoration (OR&R) OR&R is the focal point in NOAA for planning for and responding to oil spills, releases of hazardous substances, and hazardous waste sites in coastal environments. OR&R also implements the Secretary of Commerce's responsibilities for natural resource damage assessment for releases of oil and hazardous substances.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NOAA conducts research and gathers data about the global oceans, atmosphere, space and sun, and applies this knowledge to science that improves our understanding and stewardship of the environment.