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Introduction to Surface Drifters

Fred Bingham
Fred Bingham
Professor
University of North Carolina

Dr. Bingham received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in Oceanography. His research interests include global distributions of sea surface salinity and large scale regional physical oceanography in the Kuroshio, the western North and Equatorial Pacific, and Onslow Bay, North Carolina.

Webinar Clip
Dr. Bingham introduces viewers to the types of in-situ instrumentation used during a research cruise to the mid-Atlantic, one of the saltiest regions in the world's oceans. The cruise was one of many conducted as part of SPURS or Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study. This study was created to measure the saltiness of this region and to figure out what processes are at work to create such a salty patch of sea water.

Full webinar: Follow that Salt! Results and the Future of Salinity Exploration

Click here for a transcript of this clip (PDF, 30.3 KB).

Resources
Applicable Science Standards
  • Planning and Carrying Out Investigations Planning and Carrying Out Investigations. Scientists and engineers plan and carry out investigations in the field or laboratory, working collaboratively as well as individually. Their investigations are systematic and require clarifying what counts as data and identifying variables or parameters.