Overview

Near-surface GPS drifters in the Red Sea

R. Limeburner, Y. Abualnaja, A. Bower and R. Beardsley



	GPS drifter in air (photos courtesy of Capt. Ahmed Shaker).
	GPS drifter in water. To see more photos of a GPS drifter deployment, click here
	To see a movie of a GPS drifter deployment (courtesy of Capt. Ahmed Shaker), click here

We are deploying Davis-type satellite-tracked surface drifters in the Red Sea during the semi-annual large-scale and small-scale KAUST hydrographic cruises for three years 2010-2012 to investigate the near-surface Lagrangian currents in the Red Sea. These drifter deployments will focus on the small-scale KAUST coastal region, but drifters will also be deployed over the entire eastern Red Sea. The research cruises will collect important hydrographic and biologic data on the Red Sea ecosystem, but to date there have been very few direct measurements of currents. Satellite-tracked drifters provide a simple yet powerful tool to track the motion of near-surface water on time scales ranging from the tidal/inertial band to monthly and longer. The deployment of drifters on KAUST cruises will yield Lagrangian current data of intrinsic interest and help place the other KAUST measurements in the context of the regional circulation. The combined drifter and hydrographic data will provide the first detailed look at the near-surface flow in this important section of the Red Sea. In particular, the KAUST Lagrangian measurements should identify (a) the source region(s) of the coastal current flowing along the coral reefs adjacent to the new KAUST campus and marine science institute and (b) if organized cross-shelf flows occur that help create a gyre-like circulation over the shelf as suggested by regional modeling.

Real-time Data

Figure 1. Most recent drifter tracks in the Red Sea. Solid white circles every 2 days.

To view a movie of the drifter tracks with 3 day tails click here.

Figure 2. Drifters 2010

Figure 3. Mean surface currents march 17-30, 2010

Figure 4. Vector stickplot 2010 of drifters and Kaust wind stress dynes/cm^2 at the top

Figure 5. Drifter track inside a northern reef near Al Muwaylih, Saudi Arabia.

KAUST 2010 Drifter Deployment Log
ID	Irridium #	Date	Time UTC	Latitude D M		Longitude D M
5	637660	3/17/2010	0712	22	45.769	37	26.645
6	630070	3/17/2010	1100	23	20.862	37	10.371
7	531950	3/17/2010	1700	24	8.164	36	37.402
8	634060	3/17/2010	2306	24	54.460	36	14.460
9	634600	3/18/2010	1331	26	7.422	35	53.534
10	255690	3/18/2010	1222	27	46.974	35	3.647
11	633070	3/21/2010	0630	27	28.961	34	49.480
12	632080	3/21/2010	1855	26	54.436	35	8.944
13	632580	3/22/2010	0704	27	11.713	35	32.591
14	639060	3/22/2010	1851	26	40.490	35	49.370
15	525920	3/22/2010	2335	26	30.816	35	36.933
16	636070	3/23/2010	0315	26	7.010	35	40.550
17	638060	3/23/2010	0722	25	40.421	35	48.287
18	632070	3/23/2010	1155	25	45.399	35	4.150
19	638590	3/23/2010	1842	25	51.880	36	25.120
20	536940	3/24/2010	0647	25	6.242	35	43.417
21	636600	3/24/2010	1439	24	54.924	36	13.829
22	637070	3/25/2010	0644	24	20.477	36	32.441
23	536990	3/25/2010	0647	24	24.836	37	3.120
24	635070	3/25/2010	1604	24	19.800	36	56.001
25	634080	3/26/2010	2144	23	31.050	37	59.740
26	536930	3/27/2010	0851	23	3.188	37	29.981
27	158640	3/27/2010	1722	22	43.842	37	43.579
28	633080	3/28/2010	0659	23	5.150	38	29.150
29	635320	3/28/2010	2153	22	14.809	38	34.921
30	633580	3/29/2010	0457	22	9.942	38	29.859
31	532950	3/29/2010	1056	22	7.755	38	19.824
32	634070	3/29/2010	1121	22	2.994	37	59.239

Figure 5. Drifter tracks 2008.

Sponsors
This project was funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) by Award Nos. USA 00002 and KSA 00011.

Last updated: April 4, 2011