ESSO - Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
(An Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India)
Surface Drifters
The key application of surface drifter data is reduction of the bias error in satellite SST measurements. Data are also used for documentation of large-scale surface-current patterns and identifying their role in heat transport and the generation of SST patterns and variability; and validation of surface currents in ocean models.
The International Buoy Programme for the Indian Ocean(IBPIO) is the primary body for coordinating multinational actvities to implement drifting buoys. There are presently seven organisations formally participating:
- Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
- Global Drifter Center of NOAA/AOML (GDC), USA.
- TMeteo-France.
- Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), India.
- National Institute of Ocean Technology (DoD/NIOT), India.
- Navoceano, USA.
- South African Weather Service (SAWS).
Percent change that a 5°×5° square will be occupied by at least one drifter in May 2006 (R. Lumkin, NOAA/AOML, personal communication).
