Surface Drifter Data

These data sets have been supplied to ISDM by the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorology Laboratory in Miami. Data files have been prepared in a compressed comma separated file with the format description in each file. Each file contains all of the buoy data from a particular ocean basin and year. A map of the basins is shown below.

*Please see notices below for updates

Data files are divided into these Ocean basins

View and download available files

*Notices

• To compare AOML data to ISDM data, the buoy id/number is assigned
  differently. When recycling buoy numbers, AOML's convention is to
  add a 2 digit qualifier to the original generic buoy number to indicate
  the year the buoy stopped reporting. AOML adds the qualifier as a prefix
  while ISDM reverses this and adds the qualifier as a suffix for easier use
  within its processing system. For example AOML buoy id 9712345 is
  represented in ISDM as 1234597.

Resources

• Inventory of Buoys by Year
• Dataflow
  A description of the Surface Drifters organizational structure.
• Data Types/Format
• Quality Control
• Climate Variability (CLIVAR) Programme