Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes
Over the last two decades, in an effort to engage youth in polar science, the Students On Ice (SOI; https://studentsonice.com/) project has become a platform for youth to partake in scientific expeditions around the globe. Among the various activities offered, youth are able to join cruises in the N...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 https://doaj.org/article/700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde 2023-11-12T04:13:45+01:00 Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes Natasha A. Ridenour Liam Buchart Eddy Carmack Inge Deschepper Eric Galbraith Geoff Green Juliana M. Marson Clark Pennelly Tahya Weiss-Gibbons Paul G. Myers 2023-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 https://doaj.org/article/700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 https://doaj.org/article/700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) ocean modelling drift bottles North Atlantic citizen science subpolar gyre Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 2023-10-15T00:38:45Z Over the last two decades, in an effort to engage youth in polar science, the Students On Ice (SOI; https://studentsonice.com/) project has become a platform for youth to partake in scientific expeditions around the globe. Among the various activities offered, youth are able to join cruises in the North Atlantic or Arctic, and drop sealed glass bottles into the ocean. Of the thousands that have been deployed, 5% of bottles have been recovered and reported back to SOI with details on when and where they were found. Here, we compare the observational bottle data with virtual particle trajectories from a high resolution regional ocean model. Although modelling results indicate a higher likelihood of bottles reaching the shores of the western Atlantic, the majority of recovered bottles were found on the eastern side of the Atlantic. We attribute this disparity to differences in population density in Canada and Europe, biasing the recovery rates. Despite this bias, we find that changes in recovery locations over time are consistent with changes in the main ocean currents associated with the contraction and expansion of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre, as simulated in our ocean model. In 2007, a large number of bottles were found in Norway, coinciding with a contracted North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre during 2004-2008. While between 2012-2016, the majority of bottles were recovered on the British Isles, during a time of gyre expansion. These results underline the importance of large scale oceanic cycles for tracking marine debris and pollution, and show how even simple data collection methods, such as drift bottles, can provide clues to the changes in the large scale ocean circulation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Norway Soi ENVELOPE(30.704,30.704,66.481,66.481) Frontiers in Marine Science 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean modelling drift bottles North Atlantic citizen science subpolar gyre Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
ocean modelling drift bottles North Atlantic citizen science subpolar gyre Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Natasha A. Ridenour Liam Buchart Eddy Carmack Inge Deschepper Eric Galbraith Geoff Green Juliana M. Marson Clark Pennelly Tahya Weiss-Gibbons Paul G. Myers Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
topic_facet |
ocean modelling drift bottles North Atlantic citizen science subpolar gyre Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Over the last two decades, in an effort to engage youth in polar science, the Students On Ice (SOI; https://studentsonice.com/) project has become a platform for youth to partake in scientific expeditions around the globe. Among the various activities offered, youth are able to join cruises in the North Atlantic or Arctic, and drop sealed glass bottles into the ocean. Of the thousands that have been deployed, 5% of bottles have been recovered and reported back to SOI with details on when and where they were found. Here, we compare the observational bottle data with virtual particle trajectories from a high resolution regional ocean model. Although modelling results indicate a higher likelihood of bottles reaching the shores of the western Atlantic, the majority of recovered bottles were found on the eastern side of the Atlantic. We attribute this disparity to differences in population density in Canada and Europe, biasing the recovery rates. Despite this bias, we find that changes in recovery locations over time are consistent with changes in the main ocean currents associated with the contraction and expansion of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre, as simulated in our ocean model. In 2007, a large number of bottles were found in Norway, coinciding with a contracted North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre during 2004-2008. While between 2012-2016, the majority of bottles were recovered on the British Isles, during a time of gyre expansion. These results underline the importance of large scale oceanic cycles for tracking marine debris and pollution, and show how even simple data collection methods, such as drift bottles, can provide clues to the changes in the large scale ocean circulation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Natasha A. Ridenour Liam Buchart Eddy Carmack Inge Deschepper Eric Galbraith Geoff Green Juliana M. Marson Clark Pennelly Tahya Weiss-Gibbons Paul G. Myers |
author_facet |
Natasha A. Ridenour Liam Buchart Eddy Carmack Inge Deschepper Eric Galbraith Geoff Green Juliana M. Marson Clark Pennelly Tahya Weiss-Gibbons Paul G. Myers |
author_sort |
Natasha A. Ridenour |
title |
Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
title_short |
Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
title_full |
Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
title_fullStr |
Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
title_sort |
drift bottle data hint at large-scale ocean circulation changes |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 https://doaj.org/article/700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(30.704,30.704,66.481,66.481) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Norway Soi |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Norway Soi |
genre |
Arctic North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic North Atlantic |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 https://doaj.org/article/700cb4548b6d47a8a3400e116e7dacde |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1227894 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1782331603954958336 |