Drifter buoy, modeled after NOAA Global Drifter Array buoys, utilizes an altimeter, accelerometer, and GPS to gather data on angle, speed, and x, y, z coordinates creating a three-dimensional data-set of drift patterns near glaciers and in the fjords surrounding Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Norway. The currents in this region ultimately determine the climate of much of the rest of the world, providing cooling from the icy waters as they move south. With significant decreases in pack ice area and thickness each year, the cooling effect is lessening, and patterns in these once reliable currents are changing.

DRIFT

Drift is a way of looking at fluid motion where the observer follows an individual fluid parcel as it moves through space and time. Plotting the position of an individual parcel through time gives the pathline of the parcel. This nonlinear phenomenon can be visualized to show the spacial relationships between fluid bodies: human, glacial, and the sea.