This project involves the deployment of surface current drifters across the equatorial Pacific Ocean basin, and the analysis of their trajectories and data collected from current and temperature sensors mounted in them. International cooperation with France, Australia, and Japan is anticipated. 350 surface drifters will be deployed in the equatorial Pacific over a three-year period to determine the upper layer advection and heat content and its evolution. During the first year the primary procurement of drifters will be through this grant, but in out years, contributions from the French, Australians, and possibly the Japanese have been committed. This experiment is a process study contributing to the objectives of the US TOGA (Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere) Program.
