Southern Hemisphere

Horizontal spatial co-ordinates; Wave direction; Lagrangian currents and transport rates in the water column; Wave height and period statistics; Temperature of the water column

Sea level recorders; satellite tracking system; salinity sensor; wave recorders

The data set comprises temperature, pressure, position and occasionally wave data from nine drifting buoys that were deployed across the Southern Hemisphere. Data were collected from 1979 to 1981. Each buoy carried surface pressure and sea temperature sensors, and seven of the buoys were equipped with drogues in order to aid the study of large scale, near surface ocean currents, and to complement concurrent oceanographic observations made in the area by the research ship RRS Discovery. Two of the buoys were designed with good wave following characteristics and contained accelerometers and simple processors so as to yield good wave information. The buoys were equipped with UHF telemetry transmitters to relay data to the ARGOS system on board the polar orbiting meteorological satellites Tiros-9 and NOAA-6. The buoys were were deployed by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Wormley Laboratory UK as part of the First Garp Global Experiment (FGGE) Southern Hemisphere Drifting Buoy Network.

Collar, P.G., Clayson, C.H., Gwilliam, T.J.P. and Hunter, C.A. (1982) Drifting buoy observations using satellite telemetry. The Radio and Electronic Engineer, Vol 52 (5), pp239-245., IOS

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Joseph Proudman Building 6 Brownlow Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L3 5DA
United Kingdom