Drifter deployment in the framework of the IMPACT (Port impacts on marine protected areas: transnational cooperative actions) project

The deployment was part of the IMPACT project ( http://interreg-maritime.eu/web/impact ) and performed in collaboration with the CMRE-NATO under the framework of a LOGMEC (Long-term glider missions for environmental characterization) experiment. 40 CARTHE-type drifters were deployed in the open sea, in front of the Gulf of La Spezia Gulf (Italy) on May 2, 2019. CARTHE-type drifters are biodegradable drifters, spanning the first 60cm of the water column (Novelli 2017, 2018, 2020). The deployment strategy consisted of releasing drifters on a regular grid (about 6km side and 1km step, with some 500m nesting) in a time window of about 2-3 hours. 5 drifters were released in line after passing by the Portovenere Channel, while exiting the Gulf of La Spezia. 5 drifters were collected nearby Toulon (France) on May 17, 2019 and 4 of them were redeployed in the same area on June 24, 2020 (logistical support by University of Toulon). Each file contains a drifter trajectory in the NetCDF format (ex: 001.nc, 002.nc, etc...). Trajectories of those drifters that were collected and re-deployed are splitted in different files (ex: 001_a.nc, 001_b.nc). Nominal drifter transmission rate: 5 minutes. Positions available until June 28, 2019. The dataset includes raw positions; outliers were removed. References: • Novelli, G., C.M. Guigand, C. Cousin, E. Ryan, N. Laxague, H. Dai, B. Haus, and T.M. Özgökmen (2017). A biodegradable surface drifter for ocean sampling on a massive scale. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 34(11), 2509-2532. • Novelli, G., C.M. Guigand, T.M. Özgökmen (2018). Technological Advances in Drifters for Oil Transport Studies. Marine Technology Society Journal, 52(6), 53-61. • Novelli, G, C.M. Guigand, M. Boufadel, T.M. Özgökmen (2020). On the transport and landfall of marine oil spills, laboratory and field observations. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 150, 110805.