NOAA’s Adopt A Drifter B-Roll

Adopt a Drifter B-roll
NOAA Contacts: Madelyn Appelbaum, 202-482-4858, 202-340-6310 cell
or
John Ewald, 202-482-3978, 240-429-6127 cell

To mark Earth Day 2012, students are deploying NOAA drifters, or floating ocean buoys, at 6 US sites, some in partnership with students internationally: Boston Harbor (Dominican Republic); Miami (Chile); Channel Islands/Santa Barbara (Chile); Mobile (Mexico); Maui (Republic of Marshall Islands); and Seattle.

The events are part of NOAA’s Adopt a Drifter Program in which kids can learn about ocean currents in near real time — a lesson in how the ocean connects us all. Covering 70% of the Earth’s surface, the ocean plays a major role in our climate, weather, and living conditions.

Schools “adopt” a drifter equipped with climate sensors. Students participate in a contest to deploy their school’s drifter at sea. As the drifter is carried along ocean currents, it measures and transmits sea surface temperature data and positioning coordinates via satellite. The currents carry heat from place to place, which affects the climate on our planet.

Drifters help track: hurricanes, pollutants, species migration, and marine debris.
Drifters help monitor: ocean climate, which is affected by temperature, circulation, and salinity.

Students follow their adopted drifter online and analyze the near real time sea surface temperature data in their classrooms. Just as ocean scientists, they track the full global ocean drifter array.

Download it in high resolution:
[Quicktime, 1280×720, 30fps, file size 613 MB]
Right-click link below, select option to “save as” or download the linked file.
http://bit.ly/IAubbP

Also downloadable from:
http://www.adp.noaa.gov/earthday

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