As part of an ongoing effort to improve ocean monitoring, 16 MELODI drifting buoys have been deployed in the Southern Ocean during the Vendée Globe. This initiative, carried out in collaboration with Fabrice Amedeo, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and the Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), aims to collect valuable data on waves, currents, and sea surface temperature in remote and challenging oceanic regions.
These deployments contribute to a better understanding of ocean circulation patterns and the mechanisms leading to the accumulation of plastic debris in large oceanic gyres. The data gathered will support ongoing research on ocean dynamics and improve numerical models used to study transport and convergence processes in subtropical regions.
The results from this initiative will provide new insights into how surface currents influence the movement of floating particles and contribute to refining oceanographic models.
More updates will follow as the MELODI drifters continue their journey across the Southern Ocean.
