Global Drifter Program – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026

Amber LaMonte: This Post Is Fishy, June 4, 2026

A close-up image of a small fish through a microscope viewer, showcasing its detailed features including fins and eyes, set against a blurred background.

Two small fish with prominent blue eyes resting on a mesh surface, surrounded by water and sediment. — *Haddock larvae in the shape of Pisces* *from a 75 m bongo sample*

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Amber LaMonte

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

May 31- June 10

Mission: Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey (EcoMon) Geographic Area of Cruise: Mid-Atlantic Date: June 4, 2026

Data from the Bridge

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT): 8:24 AM Latitude: 39° 02.599’ N Longitude: 072° 42.161’ W Doppler Wind Speed: 9.97 knots (kt) True Wind Speed: 3.56 knots (kt) Wave Height: 2’ Air Temperature: 15.556°C/60°F Wet Bulb Temperature: 14.5°C/58.2°F Bottom Depth: 287 m Sky: Clear

A look through a square window on a ship with water droplets on it, some rope handing down and a view of the open ocean. Superimposed on this image is the title "My Office View."

My Office View

Close-up of a navigation screen displaying marine charts, GPS coordinates, speed, and time information, with a focus on a specific waypoint labeled 'PISCES'. — *Monitors with the station track*

A student holding a paper and examining a map, with rubber duck figures placed on various locations. Another student smiles while seated at the table, engaged in the activity. — *Students plotting coordinates for Duck Current Lab*
*(photo courtesy of York High School)*

We are well into our cruise and have been sampling around the Mid-Atlantic today. Each morning, >clears throat<….at 3 am, I can plan my day from my office window. Luckily, there is high-tech navigational equipment that lets me view my Time To Go (TTG) for the upcoming station and the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), since I already understand coordinates and navigation. My students, however, get to label a blank map to illustrate understanding of coordinates when they complete the Duck Current lab.

The first of the drifters has been deployed, YORKYO DRIFT, at coordinates 39°50.206’N 70°35.161’W! Shout out, YHS Class of 2026, congratulations!

These are geographic coordinates in the electronic format used by maritime digital equipment. They tell you exactly where a place is on Earth using two measurements:

Latitude (39°50.206’ N)
Think of latitude like the horizontal lines on a globe (like rings around a ball).
39° (degrees) → how far north you are from the Equator
50.206’ (minutes) → a more precise measurement within that degree
N → means North of the Equator

Longitude (70°35.161’ W)
Longitude lines run up and down from pole to pole.
70° (degrees) → how far west you are from the Prime Meridian
35.161’ (minutes) → extra precision
W → means West of the Prime Meridian

Tossing (deploying) the ball (drifter) –Shout Out Class of 2026

view down the railing of NOAA Ship Pisces as Amber pushes a drifting buoy over the edge into the ocean. the buoy and its wrapped up drogue are pictured mid-air.

close-up view of the side the buoy. on the white portion Amber has used a black marker to write the words "YHS C/O 2026"

Science and Technology Log

Research

Although our focus is on areas where Atlantic Mackerel have historically been, the featured fish for this day of sampling is the monkfish. This is due to the fact that the ocean had not yet produced any larvae large enough to be distinguishable in a photo. Your Atlantic Mack girl really said no paparazzi today! Refer back to the last blog about the expert scientist in Poland identifying fish larvae.

A close-up view of a fish eggs floating in the water, displaying translucent veil. — *Monkfish Egg Veil. Photo from New England Aquarium*.

A close-up of a larval fish partially biting a white cloth, resting on a mesh surface with water and plankton. — *Juvenile monkfish*

The U.S. commercial monkfish fishery spans the Gulf of Maine to the Mid-Atlantic, extending to the continental shelf edge. Female monkfish produce large, ribbon-like egg veils that can contain over one million eggs. These veils drift near the ocean surface with prevailing currents for one to three weeks, depending on temperature, before breaking apart and releasing the developing larvae. Commercial fishing for these fish, like many species, can often result in bycatch. Trawl gear is primarily used in northern waters, while gillnets dominate in the south. Because monkfish are often caught alongside groundfish, this fishery is closely linked to the Northeast multispecies fishery. Management relies on days-at-sea limits and trip caps to ensure sustainability. There is no targeted recreational fishery and monkfish are harvested for human consumption. U.S. wild-caught monkfish is a sustainable seafood choice, supported by strict federal management and responsible harvesting practices.

Another surprise in the zooplankton samples that wanted a photo opportunity was a larval squid. The organisms found in the bongo are mostly classified as plankton. Many of you might recall that organisms that cannot swim freely against the current are considered plankton. This is the reason they appear in the bongo; most organisms that have advanced far enough in their juvenile development have the ability to swim out of the nets.

Juvenile Squid From 150 m Sample

A group of people, wearing safety gear, gather around a woman in an orange jumpsuit who is holding a small object, a squid specimen, on a boat deck. — **Teacher LaMonte showing off her cool zooplankton find** *(photo credit Katey Maranci*k)

Two students in safety goggles and gloves conducting a biology dissection of a squid specimen in a laboratory setting. — Students dissecting squid
***(photo courtesy of York High School)***

Scientific Concepts

Group of four students in a school hallway, some wearing playful costumes, with one lying on the floor and others engaging in lively interaction. — *Students completing the survivorship types lab (photo courtesy of York High School*

Most of you are already aware that when it comes to fish reproduction, it is a numbers game. Some of you remember that fish are an example of an r- strategist life history type. In general, r-selected species have short lifespans and produce many offspring that require little or no parental care, unlike the k-strategists these students were mimicking.

Diagram illustrating fish reproductive strategies categorized as Opportunistic, Periodic, and Equilibrium, featuring various fish types with labeled characteristics and color coding for different species. — Model results showing where fish species (represented by colored dots) fall among three life history strategies. (Webstory: Scientists Can Predict Traits for All Fish Worldwide)

Scientists can now model and predict growth, survival and reproductive patterns across fish species. A species’ life history strategy reflects the specific combination of traits it has evolved to thrive in its environment and ecological niche. Using a framework of traits, including size, growth rate, reproduction, lifespan and parental care, researchers have classified more than 34,000 fish species into three primary strategy types.

Fish Life Cycle

Egg Stage
From spawning → hatching
Eggs vary in size, shape, and color depending on the species.
Inside the egg, an embryo develops.
Scientists identify eggs by observing:
- Egg size and shape
- The yolk (food supply)
- Embryo development

Yolk-Sac Stage
From hatching → yolk used up
Newly hatched fish are called larvae.
They carry a yolk sac that provides food.
Some species skip this stage and hatch more developed.

magnified view of a larval fish in a sample dish — Left: *Mychtophidae (Lantern Fish) larvae from a 200 m bongo sample*.
Right: adult lantern fish. Photo from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(Creature Feature: Lanternfishes/)

a lantern fish, with a narrow body, rounded head and hints of bioluminescence, photographed against a black background. possibly underwater. — Left: *Mychtophidae (Lantern Fish) larvae from a 200 m bongo sample*.
Right: adult lantern fish. Photo from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(Creature Feature: Lanternfishes/)

Preflexion Stage (featured in the Mychtophidae larvae above)
After yolk is gone → tail begins bending
Larvae begin feeding on their own.
Scientists observe:
- Body shape
- Early fin development (you can see the fin begin to develop in the Mychotophidae above)
- Color patterns (you can see the color begin to develop in the Mychotophidae above)

Flexion Stage
The tail (notochord) bends upward. The tail fin starts forming.

Postflexion Stage
Tail fully formed → before metamorphosis
Fins and body features continue developing.
It becomes easier to identify the species.

Transformation Stage
The fish changes from larva to juvenile.
Changes may include:
- Body shape
- Color patterns
- Fin position
- Development of scales

Juvenile Stage
Young fish → adulthood
The fish looks like a small adult. This stage ends when the fish can reproduce.

Methodology

A close-up of multiple Mauve jellyfish in a pot, with its translucent purple body resting on a layer of mixed plankton and water. — Mauve Jellyfish from a 200 m bongo station

Plankton span an extraordinary size range, from just a few micrometers to several centimeters or more. In general, phytoplankton (plant-like organisms) are the smallest, while zooplankton tend to be larger, though both groups exhibit variability in size. What may appear as minor differences to the human eye often translate into significant biological contrasts; for instance, a cylindrical organism measuring 3 mm in length has approximately 27 times the body volume of a similar organism measuring 1 mm. At each station, we conduct a double oblique tow with a bongo net diameter suitable for capturing zooplankton. Sometimes we end up with a large quantity of big zooplankton like these Mauve Jellyfish.

Plankton nets are designed to sample large volumes of water, concentrating organisms into a manageable sample size for analysis. Although plankton are often highly abundant, collecting a representative sample, particularly for less common species, requires filtering large volumes of seawater.

Close-up view of a metallic container with a blue and white fabric inside, featuring a transparent syringe-like device (flowmeter) resting on top. — *Flowmeter at opening of one bongo net*

By equipping nets with flowmeters, researchers can accurately estimate the volume of water passing through the net. This enables plankton counts to be standardized as a concentration per unit volume. For example, if 200 organisms are collected from a tow that filtered 2 cubic meters of seawater, the resulting concentration is 100 organisms per cubic meter. Standardizing measurements in this way allows for equivalent comparisons across samples, even when the filtered volumes differ.

Careers

Katey Marancik studies the ecology of ichthyoplankton collected through long-term monitoring programs on the Northeast U.S. shelf. She earned a B.S. in marine biology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and her M.S. in biology at East Carolina University (ECU). Her work focuses on improving larval fish identification through refined taxonomic descriptions, as well as examining patterns in abundance, distribution and environmental relationships.

In addition to her research, Katey is a published scientist who uses visual communication as a tool to make scientific concepts clearer and more accessible to both specialized and broader audiences. Some of her illustrations of Hake have been published to update the morphological descriptions of the larval stage in the Northeast United States Continental Shelf. The work she does reinforces the value of the natural sciences and real-world observations. The analysis and coordination of ichthyoplankton sampling adds validity to the digital sampling of water quality parameters conducted during ecosystem monitoring surveys. In a world of high tech and AI, be a natural scientist. Katey is truly an environmental steward of our oceans.

A woman sitting at a desk with multiple computer monitors and equipment, speaking into a microphone in a control room. There are papers and tools visible on the desk. — *Watch Chief Katey Marancik, a Research Fishery Biologist with NOAA, radioes the deck crew the depths for bongo sampling.*

Illustration of different stages of fish development: A shows a larval fish at 2.2 mm, B at 3.3 mm, C at 4.3 mm, and D at 6 mm, with corresponding images of each stage. — *Watch Chief Katey Marancik, a Research Fishery Biologist with NOAA, radioes the deck crew the depths for bongo sampling.*

Personal Log

Some mornings, I immediately have to put on my foul-weather gear and head out onto the deck because the ship is stopped at one of our sampling stations. Other mornings, I grab a coffee and open my computer to blog. But regardless of how my shift begins, I get to see the first light of day around 4:15 am, and I feel as though I could quite literally seize the day! Watching the sun rise is just something special, an unused part of the day just for yourself. On my usual morning commute across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, I often wish to just stop and watch the day begin.

view into a storage area with a rack of orange coats and overalls and a shelf of hard hats; we can also see boots and buckets nearby

view of a metal table containing lab equipment

Amber, wearing her Teacher at Sea beanie, takes a selfie by a railing of the ship at sunrise; calm waters are illuminated by orange pastels.

1 & 2- Foul Weather Gear that I don about 8 times a day. 3 – The wet lab. 4 – Beautiful sunrise on stern. 5 – My Emergency Billet Locations.

We participate in safety drills on the ship just like we do when we are in school, except… one is called “Man Overboard”! For that drill, we have to go to the top level of the ship, called the Fly Bridge, and point to the person we see in the water. Unless we can spot the person before the Fly Bridge, in which case we stay and point and yell “man overboard.”

A small rescue boat navigating through calm ocean waters, with crew members visible on a larger vessel in the foreground. — *Rescue boat coming back after “Man Overboard” drill*

Did You Know?

NOAA vessel discharges are governed by EPA Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) regulations and international MARPOL standards, with requirements determined by proximity to shore. On this sail date we had sampling stations closer inshore and the NOAA Ship Pisces had to follow different discharge plans based on our locations.

Inshore (< 3 NM): Discharge controls are most restrictive within U.S. state waters. Untreated sewage (blackwater) is prohibited and must be processed through an approved Marine Sanitation Device (MSD) or retained in holding tanks. Graywater discharge is tightly limited and, in some sanctuary areas, fully prohibited. Additional protections apply in marine protected areas; for example, both treated and untreated blackwater discharges are banned within 12 nautical miles of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Offshore (> 3 NM): Regulations allow greater flexibility but remain controlled. Treated sewage may be discharged using an approved MSD, while untreated sewage is only permitted beyond 12 nautical miles from land. Graywater discharge (excluding toilet & kitchen is generally allowed in open waters beyond 3 nautical miles. Food waste must be macerated to less than one inch and discharged outside 3 nautical miles; unprocessed waste is restricted to distances greater than 12 nautical miles.

https://www.epa.gov/vessels-marinas-and-ports/vessel-incidental-discharge-act-vida

A document outlining the PISCES Plan of the Day for June 5, 2026, including a schedule of operations, training, and meetings, accompanied by a station list and weather summary. — *NOAA Ship Pisces plan of the day*

May 25, 2026June 14, 2026

Amber LaMonte: Real, Relevant & A Return to the Sea May 28th, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Amber LaMonte

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

May 31 – June 10, 2026

Introduction

My name is Amber LaMonte, and for the past 19 years, I have been teaching science at York High School in Yorktown, Virginia. During which time, I have taught Biology, Ecology, AP Environmental Science and Marine Science.

Amber and two students crouch near a pond lined with rocks, holding water sampling equipment. One student reaches into the pond to fill a bottle. We can see a brick school building in the background. — Testing dissolved oxygen (DO) in the native garden frog pond. Photo courtesy of York High School.

Over the years, I’ve always tried to help students recognize that science isn’t separate from their lives; it’s part of it. Now I’m trying to answer the question: How do I help students see that science is real, relevant, and within their reach? And the search for the answer is leading me back to the sea.

a selfie photo of Amber at the beach; she stands in front of a railing and a concrete plaque that we cannot read, and in the background we can see the sand and steady waves. — I live in Virginia Beach. This is me enjoying a “snow day” while my counterparts in Yorktown have icy roads. Just one reason to appreciate the heat-holding capacity of the ocean!

My story begins with an innate love for the natural world. As a young girl, much to my grandmother’s chagrin, you would rarely catch me with dolls, but you could always find me by the creek in the woods. I’ve always been drawn to the way every organism plays a role in something much larger.

Amber kneels in the surf at a rocky beach, looking down as she reaches both her hands toward the sand. — Collecting macroalgae samples in U.S.V.I

After attending Louisiana State University and the University of the Virgin Islands, I earned my B.S. in biology with a minor in marine biology. I studied macroalgae from the reefs of St. Thomas to the swamps of Louisiana and the Huangpu River of Shanghai. With this most recent opportunity, I will collect plankton samples and study microalgae, focusing on their role in the health of our ocean.

Amber and two family members take a selfie at night; the background is illuminated with lots of lights and fireworks — My family at the winter light show aboard the USS *Wisconsin* in Norfolk, VA

Over time, my curiosity became a desire to share my sense of wonder with students who may not yet realize how connected they are to the science happening around them in their local communities. My family and I moved from New Orleans to Virginia and I became certified as a high school science teacher. I have been on a continuous pursuit to illustrate the interconnectedness of our society and the planet.

In the classroom, I’ve learned that the most meaningful moments happen when students make those connections for themselves. Start with something familiar: a local habitat, a species they recognize, or something unexpected like macroalgae being used to feed cattle and build into something bigger. Suddenly, science isn’t just content. It’s a story they’re part of. So, I build experiences with students. They participate in oyster aquaculture of our Chesapeake Bay, tag monarch butterflies in our student-built native garden and maintain saltwater aquariums in the classroom.

Over the years, that approach has grown beyond my classroom. With a desire to connect the purpose and relevance of science to students, I earned my M.S. in environmental science from Christopher Newport University. In recent years, those connections have been expanded through developing curriculum, leading initiatives with our Green Team and working on programs that connect students to career pathways.

Photos below courtesy of York High School.

To support those efforts, I’ve felt a pull to do something even more authentic, something that connects my students directly to science as it is happening now.

And that’s where this next adventure begins.

This blog will follow my journey as I step out of my classroom and into the world of scientific research, experiencing what it means to live and work at sea. I’ll share what I learn and what it looks like behind the scenes of ocean science.

NOAA History

In 1807, Thomas Jefferson established the Coast Survey to ensure safe navigation along U.S. coasts. In 1870, the Weather Bureau was created, followed by the Fish and Fisheries Commission in 1871. Each of these, one focused on physical science, one on weather, and one on protecting natural resources, has led to the invaluable federal program known today as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2025, December 11). Our history. https://www.noaa.gov/our-history

Teacher At Sea

The Teacher at Sea program became a dream of mine several years ago when the ocean sounds went from a gentle whisper to screaming my name.

Amber in a wet suit (or perhaps a sunshirt) at the beach

two fingers grasp a bluish marble, reflecting what may be clouds and trees at a beach

Amber takes a selfie at the front of a canoe; we can see someone else paddling in the rear

Sometimes the ocean is strong; the crash of waves, the pull of the tide. Other times, it’s gentle; a salty breeze, a cool splash. It beckons blue minds for a lifetime and provides a life-support system for all. Even when we dwell as land animals, it always draws us back. For me, that call has been building for years. During this expedition I will be assisting with an ecosystem monitoring survey. While on board, I will not only be helping to process plankton samples that provide data on the health of the North Atlantic Ocean, but also resetting my blue mind.

Adopt A Drifter

In addition to the valuable data being collected and processed while on the ship, York High School has the opportunity to deploy global drifter buoys that will continue to provide valuable ocean data for over a year. I cannot wait to deploy not 1, not 2, but 3 drifters on my mission!

a drifter buoy sits folded up on the wooden deck of a ship. the top portion is a spherical blue and white float, with a white pipe containing instrumentation extending off the top. the float portion sits on top of coiled cable and a folded cloth "drogue," mounted on a ring of pvc. — *Drifter buoy ready to be deployed.*
*Credit: Rayne Sabatello, NOAA AOML*

These instruments are referred to as “drifters” because they are transported via near-surface currents. Sensors on the drifters collect measurements of sea surface temperature, location and various other parameters.

Stay tuned to see ours decked out with York spirit and the names students selected for their buoys……

Follow Along This Return to the Sea

The path to this opportunity involved a thorough application process and planning preparations. Having my students witness these steps has been a valuable way to demonstrate the multifaceted direction a career path can take. I am so appreciative of the students who have been genuine in their learning, resistant to learning in general and everything in between. They have both taught me and inspired me to continue on the journey of always staying relevant in science education. A big thank you to my work bestie and student travel partner for all the support in this process. And to my principal for encouraging authentic learning experiences. I hope you will all continue following the blog as I share with you the science and people of the ship!

Science isn’t meant to stay in a notebook.

It’s meant to be experienced.

And this time, I’m not going alone.

two women in rain gear pose - one arm around the other, one arm thrown open wide - in front of huge, icy blue waterfall — **Goðafoss Waterfall, Iceland**
**for a student travel trip**

three students and one adult gather around a lab table and gaze down at a white bucket filled with samples. there is a microscope on the table next to the white bucket. in the background, we can see aquarium tanks on lab shelves, and a large cardboard cutout of a shark's head — **Goðafoss Waterfall, Iceland**
**for a student travel trip**

All student photos courtesy of York High School.

P.S. Going to miss my best boy so much!

a serene-looking golden retriever sitting in an inflatable kayak out on the water in front of a bridge and blue skies

June 23, 2013August 11, 2021

Sue Cullumber: Drifting Away, June 21, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sue Cullumber
Onboard NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter
June 5–24, 2013

Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Date: 6/21/2013
Geographical area of cruise: The continental shelf from north of Cape Hatteras, NC, including Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine, to the Nova Scotia Shelf

Weather Data from the Bridge: Time: 21.00 (9 pm)
Latitude/longitude: 3734.171ºN, 7507.538ºW
Temperature: 20.1ºC
Barrometer: 1023.73 mb
Speed: 9.6 knots

Getting ready to launch the buoy – photo by Chris Taylor.

launchingdrifter — Launching the buoy from the ship’s stern – photo by Chris Taylor.

Science and Technology Log:

This week we launched a Global Drifter Buoy (GDB) from the stern of the Gordon Gunter. So what is a GDB? Basically it is a satellite tracked surface drifter buoy. The drifter consists of a surface buoy, about the size of a beach ball, a drogue, which acts like a sea anchor and is attached underwater to the buoy by a 15 meter long tether.

Drifter tracking: The drifter has a transmitter that sends data to passing satellites which provides the latitude/longitude of the drifter’s location. The location is determined from 16-20 satellite fixes per day. The surface buoy contains 4 to 5 battery packs that each have 7-9 alkaline D-cell batteries, a transmitter, a thermistor to measure sea surface temperature, and some even have other instruments to measure barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, salinity, and/or ocean color. It also has a submergence sensor to verify the drogue’s presence. Since the drogue is centered 15 meters underwater it is able to measure mixed layer currents in the upper ocean. The drifter has a battery life of about 400 days before ending transmission.

decoratingdrifter — Attaching the stickers to the buoy – photo by Kris Winiarski.

Students at the Howard Gray School in Scottsdale, Arizona designed stickers that were used to decorate the buoy. The stickers have messages about the school, Arizona and NOAA so that if the buoy is ever retrieved this will provide information on who launched it. In the upcoming year students at Howard Gray will be tracking the buoy from the satellite-based system Argos that is used to collect and process the drifter data. You can follow our drifter here, by putting in the data set for the GTS buoy with a Platform ID of 44932 and select June 19, 2013 as the initial date of the deployment.

Why are drifter buoys deployed?

In 1982 the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) determined that worldwide drifter buoys (“drifters”) would be extremely important for oceanographic and climate research. Since then drifters have been placed throughout the world’s oceans to obtain information on ocean dynamics, climate variations and meteorological conditions.

The Howard Gray School drifter on its ocean voyage.

NOAA’s Global Drifter Program (GDP) is the main part of the Global Surface Drifting Buoy Array, NOAA’s branch of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). It has two main objectives:

1. Maintain a 5×5 worldwide degree array (every 5 degrees of the latitude/longitude of world’s oceans) of the 1250 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys to maintain an accurate and globally set of on-site observations that include: mixed layer currents, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, winds and salinity.

2. Provide a data processing system of this data for scientific use.

bongossunset — Bongo nets going out for the plankton samples.

meshsamples — Plankton from the different mesh sizes. The left is from the smaller mesh and contains much more sample. Photo by Paula Rychtar.

EcoMon survey: We are continuing to take plankton samples and this week we started taking two different Bongo samples at the same station. Bongo mesh size (size of the holes in the net) was changed several years ago to a smaller mesh size of .33 mm. However, they need comparison samples for the previous nets that were used and had a mesh size of about .5 mm. They had switched to the smaller net size because they felt that they were losing a large part of the plankton sample (basically plankton were able to escape through the larger holes). We are actually able to see this visually in the amount of samples that we obtain from the different sized mesh.

dolphinflying — Common Dolphins were frequent visitors to the Gordon Gunter.

Personal Log:

It’s hard to believe that my Teacher at Sea days are coming to a close. I have learned so much about life at sea, the ocean ecosystem, the importance of plankton, data collection, and the science behind it all. I will miss the people, the ocean and beautiful sunsets and the ship, but I’m ready to get back to Arizona to share my adventure with my students, friends and family. I want to thank all the people that helped me during this trip including: the scientists and NOAA personnel, the NOAA Corps and ship personnel, the bird observers and all others on the trip.

Did you know? Drifters have even been placed in many remote locations that are infrequently visited or difficult to get to through air deployment. They are invaluable tools in tracking and predicting the intensity of hurricanes, as well.

Question of the day? What information would you like to see recorded by a Global Drifter Buoy and why?

shipsunset-2 — Another beautiful sunset at sea.