Drifters - Ocean Currents in the Gulf of Maine and STEM Education

This past winter and spring, Salem Sound Coastwatch’s School to Sea program led a Drifter Program with local students in the Salem Sound community with the help of an awarded MIT Sea Grant. The drifters are low cost and student-built devices that track currents via satellite telemetry. While giving real-time data on currents in the Gulf of Maine that contributes to NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System and validates numerical models, students are also able to collect and analyze the data for their own education purposes. This program has been running since 2004 and was founded by the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, the Southern Maine Community College (SMCC), and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and since then, more than 1,500 different drifters have been deployed by about 100 schools! 

Registration is required. Attendance to join in person is limited to 50 attendants, or attend online via Zoom. Please register to join in person or via Zoom at tinyurl.com/SSCW-Drifters. If registering for Zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting online.

Alex Borreil is an Educator for the School to Sea program for Salem Sound Coastwatch and holds a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. In addition to being an educator, she was also the Principal Investigator for the drifter program. Previous to coming to Salem, Borreil spent a collective six years leading and creating field and classroom-based marine science courses and research projects for students in the Caribbean and Florida Keys. As a New England Native, her goal is to inspire young scientists to continue learning and protecting their local coastlines through hands-on educational experiences. 

For the past fourteen years, Underwater in Salem Sound has been co-sponsored by Salem Sound Coastwatch and Abbot Public Library. All the lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.salemsound.org.