Surface drifters launched near the Hercules 265 drilling rig site, northern Gulf of Mexico (July through September, 2013)

The Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE, www.carthe.org) launched nineteen GPS-tracked near-surface drifters, drogued at a depth of roughly 20 cm, near the site of the Hercules 265 drilling rig in July 2013. Drifter positions were reported at five-minute intervals in real-time via Globalstar satellite. These drifters used two different experimental drifter body designs: (1) type-a: plastic, tubular body roughly 50 cm high; (2) type-b: wood body (approx. 75 cm tall) consisting of four fins arranged in a plus sign shape. Thirteen type-a (tube style) drifters were launched. Six type-b (wood cross style) drifters were launched. This dataset supports the publication: Joye, S.B., J. Montoya, S. Murawski, T. Özgökmen, T. Wade, R. Montuoro, B. Roberts, D. Hollander, W. Jeffrey, and J. Chanton (2014).A Rapid Response Study of the Hercules Gas Well Blowout. Eos Trans. AGU, 95(38), 341–342, (23 September 2014). 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 BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.