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Hourly location, current velocity, and temperature collected from Global Drifter Program drifters world-wide

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 20, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-06-27T00:00:00.000+00:00
This dataset includes sea surface temperature and current data collected by satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys ("drifters") for the NOAA Global Drifter Program. The Drifter Data Assembly Center (DAC) at Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) has applied quality control procedures to edit these data (position and temperature) and interpolated them to 1-hour intervals using an optimum interpolation procedure. The data include positions (latitude and longitude), sea surface temperatures, and velocities (eastward, northward) with accompanying error estimates. Metadata include identification numbers, experiment number, start location and time, end location and time, drogue loss date, death code, manufacturer, and drifter type.

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0248584 CURRENT DIRECTION CURRENT SPEED CURRENT SPEED - EAST/WEST COMPONENT (U) CURRENT SPEED - NORTH/SOUTH COMPONENT (V) SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE WATER TEMPERATURE buoy - drifting buoy thermistor thermometer current measurements current measurements - surface currents in situ physical surface measurements time series drifting buoy NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory World-Wide Distribution oceanography DOC/NOAA/OAR/AOML > Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce Global Drifter Program EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CIRCULATION > OCEAN CURRENTS EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE DIURNAL SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE NON-DIURNAL SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE DRIFTING BUOYS > DRIFTING BUOYS THERMISTORS > THERMISTORS THERMOMETERS > THERMOMETERS BUOYS Global Drifter Program drifters GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL OCEAN

Complete Metadata
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description This dataset includes sea surface temperature and current data collected by satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys ("drifters") for the NOAA Global Drifter Program. The Drifter Data Assembly Center (DAC) at Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) has applied quality control procedures to edit these data (position and temperature) and interpolated them to 1-hour intervals using an optimum interpolation procedure. The data include positions (latitude and longitude), sea surface temperatures, and velocities (eastward, northward) with accompanying error estimates. Metadata include identification numbers, experiment number, start location and time, end location and time, drogue loss date, death code, manufacturer, and drifter type.
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identifier gov.noaa.nodc:AOML-GDP-1hr
issued 2022-02-20T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "0248584",
  "CURRENT DIRECTION",
  "CURRENT SPEED",
  "CURRENT SPEED - EAST/WEST COMPONENT (U)",
  "CURRENT SPEED - NORTH/SOUTH COMPONENT (V)",
  "SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "WATER TEMPERATURE",
  "buoy - drifting buoy",
  "thermistor",
  "thermometer",
  "current measurements",
  "current measurements - surface currents",
  "in situ",
  "physical",
  "surface measurements",
  "time series",
  "drifting buoy",
  "NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory",
  "NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory",
  "World-Wide Distribution",
  "oceanography",
  "DOC/NOAA/OAR/AOML > Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, OAR, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "Global Drifter Program",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN CIRCULATION > OCEAN CURRENTS",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE",
  "DIURNAL SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "NON-DIURNAL SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE",
  "DRIFTING BUOYS > DRIFTING BUOYS",
  "THERMISTORS > THERMISTORS",
  "THERMOMETERS > THERMOMETERS",
  "BUOYS",
  "Global Drifter Program drifters",
  "GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL OCEAN"
]
landingPage https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2025-06-27T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/gdp/",
  "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060641",
  "https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511535901.003",
  "https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-11-00100.1",
  "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01670-2",
  "https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jc011716",
  "https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2201.08289",
  "https://doi.org/10.25921/7ntx-z961"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-78.3072,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1987-10-02T00:00:00+00:00/1987-10-02T00:00:00+00:00
title Hourly location, current velocity, and temperature collected from Global Drifter Program drifters world-wide

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