“Bob the Drifter” Shares Ocean Transport Science in Fun, Innovative Video
(GoMRI)
Science that is understandable is science that is used. Researchers are right now making major advancements in tools that will help fisheries and disaster responders: improving models that predict the movement of objects or substances in the ocean, such as marine larvae, oil spills, and people lost at sea.
To get the word out to a wide audience, scientists teamed up with outreach and media specialists and created an animated story using simple language and pictures to explain their research.
Meet Bob the Drifter, one of the many important devices that collect data for scientists with the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). Bob is specially designed to drift with the surface currents and is equipped with a GPS unit so the CARTHE scientists can track where he goes and how fast he is moving. Follow along in the video below with Bob as he moves throughout the Gulf of Mexico, providing information to the scientists so they can predict where the currents may take things in the water.