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Date:  Fri, March 04, 2016
Time:  9am – 11am
Location:  Holmes Hall 388
Speaker:  Lucas Moxey, candidate for MS, advisor: Dr. Aaron Ohta

This study focused on the design and prototyping of the electronics payload of an oceanographic drifter buoy relying on low-cost off-the-shelf hardware. The prototype drifter buoy, called “PISCES-A”, featured bi-directional Iridium satellite communications capabilities that allows users to modify in real time the buoy’s data collection and data transmission configuration, even after its ocean deployment. PISCES-A was deployed in the N. Pacific Ocean, where it collected real time and archived oceanographic data (latitude & longitude, velocity, heading, sea-surface temperature, sea-surface salinity) and system diagnostics information (voltage, internal humidity, internal temperature). The buoy hardware cost $931, and yielded high resolution in situ oceanographic data. Comparisons with satellite-based sea-surface height and sea-surface temperature data showed good agreement between the locations of the mesoscale oceanographic features, regional surface currents and sea-surface temperatures (average difference of 0.31° C). The drifter buoy demonstrated the impact that carefully engineered, low-cost electronic systems can have in the sciences, particularly within the field of physical oceanography.