Sofar Spotter Drifter Deployments

A total of 19 Sofar Ocean Technologies Spotter drifters were deployed on the A22 cruise (https://www.sofarocean.com/products/spotter). Co-chief scientist Jesse Anderson and R/V Thompson SSGs Elizabeth Ricci and Stephen Jalickee were in charge of the deployments. Additional assistance was provided by multiple science party members. The drifters were deployed by dropping them over the port stern while the vessel steamed away from station or during transits between stations. Parameters measured are complete wave spectrum and winds (speed and direction, derived from wave spectra). All spotters deployed are working well. Data will be publicly available as per Level 3 data requirements of the GO-SHIP program.

SOFAR technologies provided the following description: Sofar Ocean Technologies is deploying a global free-floating metocean sensor array which develops new assimilation strategies to im- prove global ocean weather forecast models. The network of Sofar buoys make observations of real-time ocean conditions including surface winds, waves and currents, and transmit the data back to shore through an integrated satellite connection. Sofar is working to expand its coverage in the Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans by utilizing Ship of Opportunity partner groups, with all data from the global network publicly available in real time through the Sofar Weather Dashboard. Data exports are also available to partner groups as part of our research grants program, either directly to deployment partners, or through our Climate Initiative. Sofar’s work is funded in part by the US Office of Naval Research, which has sponsored several research projects including an upcoming effort to directly observe hurricane activity in the Atlantic in order to improve hurricane forecasting and operational tracking systems.

Summary of the deployment details of the Sofar. Stations marked with * had deployment information reconstructed from ship records and CTD console logs.

Deployment	ID	Lat	Lon	Date and Time (UTC)	CTD Station
1	1171	23.82	-65.79	05/03/2021 13:08	48
2	1177	24.33	-65.76	05/03/2021 20:06	49
3	1186	24.82	-65.73	05/04/2021 03:10	50
4	1035	25.35	-65.70	05/04/2021 10:02	51
5	1169	25.81	-65.66	05/04/2021 16:40	52
6	1180	26.82	-65.60	05/05/2021 06:54	54
7	1185	27.82	-65.53	05/05/2021 20:48	56
8	1175	34.74	-66.58	05/09/2021 21:34	70
9	1187	35.72	-67.17	05/10/2021 11:18	72
10	1189	37.14	-68.06	05/12/2021 04:44	75
11	1062	37.39	-68.22	05/12/2021 11:42	76
12*	1168	37.52	-68.30	05/12/2021 12:40	between 76/77
13*	1182	37.63	-68.33	05/12/2021 18:10	77
14*	1094	37.74	-68.44	05/12/2021 19:20	between 77/78
15*	1183	37.85	-68.43	05/13/2021 00:40	78
16*	0986	37.99	-68.58	05/13/2021 02:15	between 78/79
17*	1178	38.11	-68.56	05/13/2021 07:51	79
18*	1176	38.33	-68.86	05/13/2021 13:10	80
19*	1194	38.56	-68.03	05/13/2021 18:40	81