Understanding coastal flow fields through large-scale deployment of ocean surface drifters

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K14357
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 24020:Marine engineering-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kodaira Tsubasa 東京大学, 大学院新領域創成科学研究科, 講師 (60795459)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 海洋表層流 / ドリフター / 北極海 / 海洋IoT

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed an affordable, compact, ocean surface drifter with a function of highly accurate wave measurements. We have created housings suitable for deployment on both open water and ice surfaces. After verifying their accuracy, we conducted multi-point deployments in both the Arctic and Antarctic. During development, we explored the use of 3D printing technology, a rapid prototyping technique that had been limited in ocean observation due to its lack of watertightness and robustness. We published a paper on our methods and the verification of the wave measurements.
Deployment results in the Canada Basin of the Arctic Ocean revealed the presence of submesoscale and mesoscale eddies. By comparing satellite altimeter data with drifter trajectories, we obtained results suggesting the usefulness of satellite altimeters in estimating the distribution of surface currents in the Arctic Ocean.

Free Research Field

海洋物理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では低コストで製作でき、可搬性が高く頻繁かつ大量に投入可能な海洋表層ドリフターを検討し開発した。ラピッドプロトタイピング技術の海洋観測分野への応用という実例の少ない分野で知見を得ることができた。本研究では北極海を対象として開発した機器展開を実施したため、イリジウム衛星通信を用いたが、近年普及しているLPWAを用いたテレメトリに変更することで、オンデマンドな沿岸域の流動場の把握手法として有用となると考えられる。学術的にも既存の地衡流や吹走流のみより構成された流動場に比べて河川水や潮汐流の影響が含まれる為、新規性の高い知見の獲得が期待できる。