Although most drifting buoys start their journeys with a crude send-off—usually heaved into the ocean from the stern of a moving ship—NOAA oceanographer Rick Lumpkin describes today's drifter as "a high-tech message in a bottle." Insignificant on their own, but an army of drifters 1,000 strong patrols the world's oceans and records key data for climate monitoring and research.
NOAA's network of moored buoys in the tropical Pacific is getting an upgrade that will help scientists better understand and predict El Niño and La Nina.
From algae growth and sea ice to tsunamis, moored ocean buoys are vital to understanding and predicting the ocean.