MA09CH03-Lumpkin ARI 16 November 2016 8:16 ANNUAL REVIEWS Further Click here to view this article's online features: • Download figures as PPT slides • Navigate linked references • Download citations Advances in the Application • Explore related articles • Search keywords of Surface Drifters Rick Lumpkin,1 Tamay Ozg¨ okmen,¨ 2 and Luca Centurioni3 1Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami, Florida 33149; email:
[email protected] 2Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33149; email:
[email protected] 3Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093; email:
[email protected] Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2017. 9:59–81 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on drifters, Lagrangian observations, surface currents, transport, dispersion August 22, 2016 The Annual Review of Marine Science is online at Abstract Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2017.9:59-81. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org marine.annualreviews.org Surface drifting buoys, or drifters, are used in oceanographic and climate This article’s doi: research, oil spill tracking, weather forecasting, search and rescue operations, 10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060641 calibration and validation of velocities from high-frequency radar and from Copyright c 2017 by Annual Reviews. altimeters, iceberg tracking, and support of offshore drilling operations. In All rights reserved this review, we present a brief history of drifters, from the message in a bottle to the latest satellite-tracked, multisensor drifters. We discuss the different types of drifters currently used for research and operations as well as drifter designs in development.