Lagrangian Submesoscale Experiment (LASER) surface drifters, interpolated to 15-minute intervals

Over 1000 near-surface biodegradable drifters were deployed in the northern Gulf of Mexico in January-February 2016 as part of the CARTHE Lagrangian Submesoscale Experiment (LASER). The drifters were drogued at 0.5 m depth and reported their positions in real-time using SPOT GPS units nominally every 5 minutes for about 3 months. No temperature or salinity sensors were attached to these drifters. The data was quality-controlled by separating trajectories at drogue-loss. Positions were then low-pass filtered and interpolated to uniform 15 minute intervals. Data covers the period 21 January through 30 April 2016. This dataset was created by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). This research was made possible by a grant from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.