[Note: download the latest from ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/phod/wilson/yoto/ecar1.jpg for reference]
YOTO #11 (30622, northernmost) and YOTO #10 (30623) were launched just west of the Grenada Passage, between Venezuela and the island of Grenada. Based strictly on our idea of the mean flow, we would expected them to move westward as part of the Caribbean Current. Instead, they have illustrated eastern Caribbean current variability and eddy (relatively small circular flows) activity. They moved northeastward, executed a clockwise (antiyclonic) loop off St. Vincent, and another loop between Martinique and Dominica. These loops are the result of eddies. YOTO #10 then went ashore in Martinique, and was probably recovered by a fisherman. YOTO #11 continued northwestward, with two more loops taking it close to the coasts of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, before heading off into the central Caribbean, where it continues westward south of Jamaica. This sort of behavior is quite interesting to scientists studying how fish populations are connected from one island to another.
YOTO #6 (30619) has also displayed a very interesting and unexpected track; launched between Guadeloupe and Montserrat, it passed close to St. Kitts before exiting the Caribbean. After nearly 3 months and a 100-mile excursion offshore, it re-entered the Caribbean through the Anegada Passage, made a few loops, and is now moving steadily westward around 14.5° N.
[Note: download the latest from ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/phod/wilson/yoto/ecar2.jpg for reference]
This group of drifters just didn't want to stay in the Caribbean. Of the eight initially launched, five went ashore or failed. YOTOs 26 (29813, launched between Guadeloupe and Montserrat) and 29 (29818, launched near Saba) exited the Caribbean by completely different routes, but are now following similar tracks in the Atlantic, northeast of the Virgin Islands, surprisingly showing little inclination to go north or west.
YOTO #32 (29816), launched west of St. Vincent, initially moved northwest but is now heading southwestward with little eddy activity into the southern Caribbean.
YOTO #27 (29815), deployed off Barbados, entered the Caribbean through the relatively narrow passage between Bequia and St. Vincent, moved rapidly northward and stopped transmitting near Montserrat.
[Note: download the latest from ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/phod/wilson/yoto/ecar3.jpg for reference]
YOTO #38 exited the Caribbean through the Anegada Passage and now heads westward north of Puerto Rico.
The Barbados drifter, YOTO #34 (23502) entered the Caribbean Sea just south of St. Lucia and again seems headed northward. YOTO #33 looks committed to heading westward and two are now looping, caught in eddies - the southern one clockwise (YOTO #36), the northern one counterclockwise (YOTO 39). Eddy rotation direction can be significant, determining characteristics like upwelling (counterclockwise) or downwelling (clockwise) motion in the center of each circular flow.
And finally check out YOTO #3, it has passed through the Caribbean Sea and Yucatan Channel, traveled around the southern tip of Florida, and is now on the fast track north caught up in the Gulf Stream.
The next Antilles deployments are planned for 21 September - 3 October, when the R/V Seward Johnson will be conducting a research cruise along the islands from Cuba to Trinidad. These will be especially significant, as we will be collecting physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic data at each of the launch sites.
See also Project Summary.
