Check out the new additions to the YOTO Drifter pages, Robert McCoy a graduate student at the University of Colorado has been working on a project to display YOTO Drifter tracks over sea surface heights - nice job Robert - take a look at
http://www-ccar.colorado.edu/~realtime/yoto-drifters
And Doug Wilson gives us a great update on the drifters he has been tracking to study the Caribbean Current and how it eventually becomes the Gulf Stream - project summary and results.
And finally check out YOTO #3, it has crossed the Caribbean Sea, passed through the Yucatan Channel, traveled around the southern tip of Florida, and is now on the fast track north caught up in the Gulf Stream.
August 18, 1998
YOTO #3 and #6 have passed through the Yucatan Straits, but it is not clear whether they will move into the Gulf of Mexico or flow South of Florida and enter the Gulf Stream. Are they caught in an eddy?
Several drifters are also clearly showing the Panama-Columbia gyre Dr. Kevin Leaman has described in his project summary and results.
Recently students from North Carolina deployed three drifters into the Gulf Stream during an educational cruise, stay tuned for the data to start coming in and for pictures of the deployment.
July 22, 1998
The first YOTO Drifter has entered the Gulf of Mexico!
YOTO #16 is located within the Gulf of Mexico as of July 22, 1998. Will it travel further into the Gulf of Mexico or move eastward and enter the Florida Current on its way to the Gulf Stream? Stay tuned!
July 7, 1998
22 YOTO drifter tracks and positions are now available through the visualizations provided by GLOBE. A new view has been added, in which drifter tracks can be viewed in different colors, this dramatically illustrates the twists and turns these drifters are making as they get caught up in the currents and eddies of the Caribbean Sea.
Some of the drifters have taken an unexpected track, moving north or east when scientists expected a more westerly path. Other drifters appear to be following the larger current system of the region and now head for the Yucatan Straits, keep tracking to see if and when they enter the Gulf of Mexico.