Abstract:

This dataset contains positions of surface drifters deployed during the period 4-16 December 2013, with some tracked through 26 December 2013. They were released off Santa Rosa Island, Florida, as part of the Surfzone Coastal Oil Pathway Experiment (SCOPE), focused on measuring the inner-shelf and surf-zone processes responsible for oil transport. The sampling rate was nominally 5-minutes. In addition to the custom-built SCOPE drifters, the dataset includes trajectories of (a) drifters built by high-school students in a CARTHE-sponsored competition and (b) "green" drifters that were being tested for future experiments. The intensive three-week SCOPE field campaign also employed a cross-shore array of fixed instruments to measure winds, waves, currents, and water properties from 10 m water depth to the shoreline; dye releases; and moving-vessel measuring platforms. This unique set of observations is valuable both for quantifying nearshore physics and mixing estimates, and for assessing nearshore model forecasts. The observations captured a wide range of wind- and wave-forcing due to a number of synoptic winter storms that occurred during the experiment. This dataset was created by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). This research was made possible by a grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

Suggested Citation:

Jamie MacMahan. 2016. SCOPE Experiment surface drifters, Santa Rosa Island, Florida, December 2013. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7ST7MRS

Publications:

Roth, M. K., MacMahan, J., Reniers, A., Özgökmen, T. M., Woodall, K., & Haus, B. (2017). Observations of inner shelf cross-shore surface material transport adjacent to a coastal inlet in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Continental Shelf Research, 137, 142–153. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2016.12.017

Kuitenbrouwer, D., Reniers, A., MacMahan, J., & Roth, M. K. (2018). Coastal protection by a small scale river plume against oil spills in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Continental Shelf Research, 163, 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2018.05.002

Purpose:

Drifters were deployed to obtain Lagrangian data to learn more about the nearshore processes responsible for oil transport. This unique set of observations is valuable both for quantifying nearshore physics and mixing estimates, and for assessing nearshore model forecasts.

Data Parameters and Units:

time (yearday) longitude (decimal degrees) latitude (decimal degrees)

Instruments:

Three classes of drifters were deployed, all designed to measure the upper 30 cm of the water column. One set constitutes the main body of the dataset; one consists of nearly biodegradable "green" drifters being tested; one set consists of a variety of drifter designs developed and built by high-school students.

Individual Files: