Authored by: Emily Smith
As the Ronald H. Brown continues to make its way around the world, it is also deploying many platforms that are used to observe the ocean. These platforms measure temperature, salinity, and ocean currents. Before we had these platforms, all of that information would only be collected by ships. This limited our ability to understand most of the ocean. Now we have instruments all around the world. Some of the instruments that are being deployed by NOAA’s Ship, the Ronald H. Brown are Argo floats and Drifters.
An Argo float is a free-drifting instrument that moves up and down in the water column. It collects information from the sea surface to 2,000 meters below the surface every 10 days. Each time a float surfaces, it sends measurements of temperature, salinity, with the depth of those measurements to satellites.
The other free floating platform that is being deployed is a global drifter. A drifter consists of a surface buoy attached by a long drogue (looks like a sock with holes in it). It gathers temperature and ocean current information that it can send to satellites. Drifter data helps us study surface circulation.
Scientists are very excited to be able to put more instruments in the water in the Indian Ocean. This is the first time in many years that measurements are being taken in this part of the world.
GO-SHIP Indian Ocean Cruise 2018 