September 2025 | Oceanography
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In our program, each team was supplied the materials needed
(Table 1), though they were permitted to use locally avail-
able alternatives. Because the drifters were not intended to be
retrieved, all components except the electronic stack were bio-
degradable. During the design phase, students were encour-
aged to think about drogue geometry, length, and weight distri-
bution. They received instructions in the form of a presentation,
which, along with written instructions and code, is available in the
project’s GitHub repository.
FIGURE 1. (left) Dimensions of example drifter and simplified free body dia-
gram of the drifter. (right) Instructions for constructing the example drifter
frame and drogue with provided materials. The frame and drogue were
made from wooden dowels, cotton canvas, jute rope, cork for buoyancy,
and fishing weights. The drogue was tensioned against the center dowel
with hemp rope that was threaded through the cork float and tied to the
attachment point, with grommets reinforcing the drogue attachment points.
FIGURE 2. Drifter design
completed by one of the
instructors to test the valid-
ity of the project and to use
as an example for students.