Summary

Description

The Global Drifter Program consists of the two components: The Drifter Data Assembly Center and the Operations Center. The primary goal of the DAC is to assemble and provide uniform quality control of sea surface temperature (SST) and surface velocity measurements. These measurements are obtained as part of an international program designed to make these data available in an effort to improve climate prediction. Climate prediction models require accurate estimates of SST to initialize their ocean component. Drifting buoys provide essential ground truth SST data for this purpose. The models also require validation by comparison with independent data sets. Surface velocity measurements are used for this validation. The AOML Drifter Operations Center manages the deployment of drifting buoys around the world. Using research ships, Volunteer Observation Ships (VOS) and aircraft, Lagrangian drifters are placed in areas of interest. Once verified operational, they are reported to AOML's Drifter Data Assembly Center. Incoming data from the drifters are then placed on the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) for distribution to meteorological services everywhere.