![](media/image1.png){width="0.75in"
height="0.75in"}![](media/image2.png){width="1.0527777777777778in"
height="0.6625in"} *ADOPT A DRIFTER PROGRAM*

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of
Climate Observation (OCO) established the ***Adopt a Drifter Program***
(ADP) in December 2004 for K-16 teachers from the United States along
with international educators. This program provides teachers with an
educational opportunity to infuse ocean observing system data into their
curriculum. A drifting buoy (drifter) is a floating ocean buoy equipped
with meteorological and/or oceanographic sensing instruments linked to
transmitting equipment where the observed data are sent to collecting
centers. A global array of 1250 drifting buoys is scheduled to be
completed during 2005 with the official launch of the 1250^th^ buoy
planned at a celebration during the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission
for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM\*) II conference in
Halifax, Nova Scotia this September. Ongoing deployment of drifting
buoys will be essential to maintain the array at its complete level.

The ADP invites one school from the United States to partner with one
international school where they collaborate to mutually adopt a drifter
to be deployed from a ship at sea. A teacher from each school may be on
board the ship during deployment, although this is not a prerequisite
for participation in the Program. An educational sticker or drawing from
each school is adhered to the drifter before deployment and photos taken
to document the activity. The teachers receive the WMO number of their
drifting buoy in order to access data online from the school's adopted
drifter. Participating teachers develop lesson plans to encourage their
students to apply the drifting buoy data. Students in the teachers'
classes receive a drifter tracking chart to plot the coordinates of the
drifter as it moves freely in the surface ocean currents. Teachers and
students can more easily make connections between the data accessed on
line and other maps showing currents, winds, etc.

Since drifter data are used to track major ocean currents and eddies
globally, ground truth data from satellites, build models of climate and
weather patterns, predict the movement of pollutants if dumped or
accidentally spilled into the sea, and assist with the forecast path of
approaching hurricanes, it is important to understand how the data are
measured, how often data are downloaded, and what data are available for
schools and the general public to access. Students have full access to
drifting buoy data (e.g., latitude/longitude coordinates, time, date,
SST) in real or near real-time for their adopted drifting buoy as well
as all drifting buoys deployed as part of the global ocean observing
system. They can access, retrieve, and plot as a time series various
subsets of data for specified time periods for any drifting buoy (e.g.,
SST) and track and map their adopted drifting buoy for short and long
time periods (e.g., one day, one month, one year).

The Adopt a Drifter web site is
<http://osmc.noaa.gov/OSMC/adopt_a_drifter.html>. Educators and students
from all countries are invited to participate. If interested, please
contact Diane Stanitski at <diane.stanitski@noaa.gov>.

\* The WMO/IOC Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine
Meteorology (JCOMM) is an intergovernmental body of experts, which
provides the international, intergovernmental coordination, regulation
and management mechanism for an operational oceanographic and marine
meteorological observing, data management and services system.

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The Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) is an international body with a
mission to coordinate deployment of drifting and moored buoys worldwide.
This map, from May 2005, shows the status of the drifting and moored
buoys as part of the ocean observing system. The first number in
parentheses represents the number of drifting buoys deployed by that
country. In May 2005, 1081 drifting buoys had been deployed, resulting
in 86% completion for the drifting buoy network.

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height="4.493055555555555in"}

Mary Cook (on right), a middle school science teacher from Southside
Middle School, Batesville, Arkansas, deployed the first adopted drifting
buoy in the Pacific Ocean from the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown. The buoy
was released off the coast of Chile in December 2004. Mary's students
adopted this buoy and nicknamed it "Bob". A children's science book was
written in conjunction with Mary's cruise on the Ronald H. Brown. The
book, entitled *Teacher at Sea: Miss Cook's Voyage on the Ronald H.
Brown*, highlights the scientific work conducted on board. If you are
interested in receiving one of these books (free of charge), please send
your request to <diane.stanitski@noaa.gov>.