2023 Drifter Tracks
Resolving transport pathways through New England's continental shelf waters and beyond
updated every few hours
See a GoogleMap of just this month's tracks.
Go to Student Drifters Homepage.
Find out how to get involved with the project
Download drifter construction manuals and lesson plans
Access the historical drifter data.
Get information on a related unmanned sailboat project
Plots of this year's tracks are linked in the table below.
Drifter tracks from last year are here.
Drifter tracks from in previous years (email james.patrick.manning@gmail.com):
To get PYTHON processing routines, email James Manning for the latest versions.
To see information on individual clusters, click the links in the following chronological table
| Institution (data) |
PI (report/blog) | Deployers (deploy video) | Date Deployed (animation) | Dropsite (forecast) | #units | Science (googleearth) | Status (googlemap) | ID-Type of Unit (photo) | Fate (photo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seton Hall Prep High | David Snyder | F/V Nathaniel Lee | Aug 21 2022 | Oceanographers Canyon | 2 | education | underway | mini surface drifter | 228400691,228400692 separated by several hundred miles after a few months |
| Waterford CT High | OConner | R/V Neil Armstrong | Nov 13, 2022 | Southern New England Shelf | 1 | education | done | surface drifter and miniboat | 220400721 drifter along with Educational Passages miniboat "Lady Lance" as documented with a weekly blog with the deployment video posted here, apparently died 22 March. The miniboat was recoveryed by Azorean colleagues on 12 May 2023 off the island of Graciosa. |
| First Presbyterian Day School | Patti Lewis and Harrison Smith | F/V Fish Haven | Mar 8, 2023 | Gulf of Mexico | 1 | education moon tides | done | surface drifter | 233280891 made a few loops, headed south, and then, one week after deployment, made it into Chandeleur South, circumnavigated an island, past the delta on 19 March, and, as of the end of the month, was headed westward. On May 9th, 2023, after a 2-month-long trek, it landed overnight on the breakwater at the mouth of Galveston Bay Texas but then apparently freed itself, headed into the bay the next morning, and then was recovered by El Jardin Beach-walker , Dave Pior who will connect it to his science-teacher daughter. |
| Falmouth MA High | Cheryl Milliken | USCG | Mar 11, 2023 | Cape Cod Bay | 2 | education/potential nuclear waste transport turtles |
done | surface drifter and miniboat | 233410701 recovered by Laurie Davis on 14 March with a few bent/broken spars near the White Cliffs Cedarville neighborhood of Plymouth and picked up by JiM; 233410702 miniboat "Scarborough Sailor" went ashore to Plymouth Long Beach the first morning, recovered by a marine debris cleaner missing a few parts, and picked up by Cheryl; |
| Southern Maine Community College | Brian Tarbox | Jeff Putman's Captain B and Alex Todd's F/V Jacob and Joshua and Ben Lydon's Charter boat Bad Larry Capt Brian Tarbox SMCC R/V Charlie Hall and Jeff Putman's Captain B again |
Mar 29, 2023 May 26, 2023 July 8, 2023 Sep 21, 2023 Dec 2, 2023 |
Jeffreys Ledge | 5 | education | underway | surface "eddie" and plywood "brian" drifters | 233430701 as seen being tested by students, stalled for a week before it started heading south, traveled cyclonically around Cape Cod Bay, oscillated a few times north/south between Wellfleet & Truro, came ashore May 20th, 2023 across from Allerton St in Ptown, evidently rolled around in the surf, reported the next noon 1/4 mile to the east, recovered badly damaged by Laura Ludwig's beach cleanup crew on 22 May, and transported by Robert back to Maine; 235430701 normal route down the backside of Cape Cod, Georges Bank by late June, headed up into the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy in August, and then went silent just south of St John NB in mid-September; 237430701 headed east out into mid-gulf region around Georges Bank and then went silent on Oct 5th as it approach Hudson Shelf Valley ; 239420701 headed into Mass Bay on Nov 1st southern Flank of Georges in Dec 1st... 230430701 deployed on Jefferies and ... |
| Jacksonville Marine Lab | J Stalker | USCG Mayport Station Jacksonville Florida | Apr 8, 2023 | Gulf Stream off Florida | 2 | education | done | large surface drifters | 234300801 came ashore at Al Weeks North Shore Park in Ormond on 11 April and ended up at the Volusia County Beach Safty Headquarters in Daytona; 234300802 apparently came ashore about a mile south of the 1st one on 12 April but then showed up on a Palm Beach beach on 14 April |
| Meadowbrook Elementary | Jessica MacManus | M/V Albatross; USCG zodiac | May 30, 2023; June 8, 2023 | Cape Cod Bay | 3 | education | underway | surface drifters | 235410701 videoed and recovered by Ann Plelan, a "cold plunger" at Corporation Beach on June 4th after a few days of northerlies ... 235410702 came ashore on Sandy Neck Park on June 4th, photographed, reported by a beach walker, recovered by the gate house crew with help from Amanda and Dena, picked up by JiM June 6th, and delivered to USCG. 236410701 deployed by USCG on June 8, traveled north, was entrained in the backside coastal current south on June 29, and ... |
| Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab | Steve Ruberg | ? | June 26, 2023 | Lake Michigan | 4 | Fish Larval Transport | done | surface "eddie" drifters | 236440861 recovered before it hit the shore on June 29th at about 2000Z; 236440862 recovered before it hit the shore on June 29th at about 2000Z; 236440863 recovered before it hit the shore on June 29th at about 2000Z; 236440864 recovered before it hit the shore on June 29th at about 2000Z; |
| Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab | Steve Ruberg | ? | Aug 1, 2023 | Lake Michigan | 4 | Fish Larval Transport | done | surface "eddie" drifters | 238440861 hit Hoffmaster State Park shore on Aug 3rd at about 0800Z; 238440862 hit Hoffmaster State Park shore on Aug 3rd at about 0800Z; 238440863 hit Hoffmaster State Park shore on Aug 3rd at about 0800Z; 238440864 hit just south of Hoffmaster State Park shore on Aug 3rd at about 0800Z; |
| Wellan Montesouri | Merav Rosen & Caitlin Bowring | Jeff White | Oct 28 2023 | off S Maine | 1 | education | underway | wooden turtle | 230420701 ... |
| Jacksonville Marine Lab | Melanie Doan and J Stalker | USCG Mayport Station Jacksonville Florida | Oct 20, 2023 | Gulf Stream off Florida | 12 | education | done | PVC surface drifters | 235300801 transmitted episodically and then quit on 12 Nov 2023 off St Augustine;
235300802 not deployed; 235300803 came ashore at Ocean Palm Villas Beach on 4 Nov 2023; 235300804 came ashore just north of Playalinda beach on 9 Nov 2023 and recovered by National Seashore Park Ranger Jimi without a transmitter to be brought to JML by Randy; 235300805 came ashore in front of the Seacoast Garden Condos in Edgewater on 5 Nov 2023 and recovered by Casey Binkley who is the landlord of an apartment complex in New Smyrna; 235300806 quit transmitting off Daytona Beach on 4 Nov 2023 ...; 235300807 came ashore on Playalinda Beach about a mile north of Kennedy Space Center on 6 Nov 2023 and recovered by National Seashore Jimi to be brought to JML by Randy; 235300808 did not transmit; 235300809 came ashore on Flager Beach recovered by a Jim about a mile or two beyond the Apollo Beach road on Canaveral National Seashore on 6 Nov 2023 brought ashore by somebody to the 3rd house on right on Saddlewood Ln in Winter Springs; 2353008010 came ashore in front of the Seacoast Garden Condos in Edgewater on 10 Nov 2023 2353008011 came ashore on Playalinda Beach about a few miles north of Kennedy Space Center on 7 Nov 2023 and recovered by National Seashore Park Ranger Jimi to be brought to JML by Randy; 2353008012 came ashore about a half mile beyond the Apollo Beach road on Canaveral National Seashore on 6 Nov 2023 and decommissioned on 27 Nov ; 2353008013 did not transmit since the transmitter evidently came off during deployment but recovered by National Seashore Park Ranger Jimi near Playalinda Beach to be brought to JML by Randy; |
| Falmouth MA High Falmouth Jr High |
Cheryl Milliken Liz Klein |
USCG F/V Grace Sarah |
Nov 25, 2023 Dec 2, 2023 |
Cape Cod Bay | 2 4 |
education/potential nuclear waste transport turtles |
underway | surface drifters and miniboats | 230410701 prototype "Jack" failed on deployment but reported for one day in the canal on 28 Nov where it was recovered in good shape by Army Corps Park Rangers Corinna and Samantha after the crew of patrol boat "Belmont" spotted it on the rocks; 230410702 standard "Irina" ...; 230410703 (deployed by Dave Marsh off F/V Grace Sarah) miniboat Riptide sailed across the bay quickly, landed that evening on Duck Harbor Beach, recovered by Carmela and Stacy the next morning; 230410704 miniboat Rockstar sailed across the bay, turned around the next morning of easterlies, landed mid-day at Scusset Beach near the canal and recovered by Carmela and Stacy; 230410705 markerbuoy drifter came ashore on Sagamore Beach 4 Dec 2023 ~0100Z several houses down from Pilgrim Rd; 230410706 markerbuoy drifter also came ashore on Sagamore Beach ~4 Dec 2023 0100Z several houses down from Pilgrim Rd; |
| IMAPOCEAN | Ari Dimoula | ? | Sep 2023 | off Greece and Ireland | 2 | Education | planned | surface "Irina" drifters | 239350201...;239440101; |
| Career And Academic Development Institute | Jeff Frank | F/V ??? | 2023 | Mid-Atlantic Bight | 4 | education/CODAR | planned | surface drifter | 233380711 ... 233380712 ... 233380713 ... 233380714 ... |
| Stockton University | Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert | ?? | 2023 | off New Jersey | 1 | education | planned | surface drifter | 233400731... |
Note: Most units are prepared by students in the classroom. The majority are standard surface drifters" marking only the top 1-meter of the water column, and some have subsurface drogues typically centered at 10m-15m below the surface. For details, call 508-566-4080 or email james.patrick.manning@gmail.com.