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The Use of Mini-Drifters in Coastal Current Measurements Conducted Concurrently with Satellite Imaging

  • USE OF SPACE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTH STUDYING SEAS AND OCEANS FROM SPACE
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Abstract

The results of field measurements of coastal currents using Lagrangian mini-drifters are presented. The drifter experiments were conducted concurrently with satellite imaging using Sentinel-2 MSI, Landsat-8 OLI, and Sentinel-3 OLCI sensors. It is shown that the use of an inexpensive and simple-to-manufacture device such as a mini-drifter allows one to obtain operational information about the parameters of coastal currents. In experiments conducted in April–May 2019 in the northeastern part of the Black Sea, it was possible to estimate the velocity of coastal currents and determine the minimum distance that the Black Sea Rim Current approached the coast. The trajectories of mini-drifters have revealed the manifestations of inertial oscillations whose spatial characteristics are almost impossible to measure in any other way. The influence of the vortex structures detected in visible satellite images on the distribution of mini-drifters is estimated.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are deeply grateful to our colleagues from the Sevastopol branch of the Zubov State Oceanographic Institute for the delivery of our mini-drifter found by them to Sevastopol, which allowed us to retrieve valuable information from it.

Funding

The expedition work was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant no. 17-05-00715. The development and improvement of Lagrangian mini-drifters was carried out as part of a state task of the Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (“Monitoring,” state registration no. 01.20.0.2.00164).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    O. Yu. Lavrova, A. Ya. Strochkov, K. R. Nazirova & E. V. Krayushkin

  2. Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russia

    D. M. Soloviev & E. V. Zhuk

Authors
  1. O. Yu. Lavrova
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  2. D. M. Soloviev
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  3. A. Ya. Strochkov
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  4. K. R. Nazirova
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  5. E. V. Krayushkin
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  6. E. V. Zhuk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. Yu. Lavrova.

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Translated by M. Chubarova

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Lavrova, O.Y., Soloviev, D.M., Strochkov, A.Y. et al. The Use of Mini-Drifters in Coastal Current Measurements Conducted Concurrently with Satellite Imaging. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 56, 1022–1033 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433820090157

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