Local Students Help Launch Tracking Buoys Into Atlantic Ocean
BOSTON (CBS) - Middle school students from area schools met at The New England Aquarium on Monday to launch a major scientific experiment.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports.
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The students from the Boston Latin and Gates middle schools helped launch drifters, which are buoys with a tracking device relating information about where it is, where it's been and even where it's headed next.
The drifters came courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are more than 1,000 of the floating buoys in our oceans.
The drifters provide important information about climate, hurricanes, pollutants and migration.
Kathy Sullivan, the deputy administrator of NOAA, said this is a hands-on real-life scientific experiment.
"The school is adopting a buoy, a drifter...kinda like the modern day version of message in a bottle, but this bottle can actually send back data, that helps ocean scientists better understand the currents of the ocean and the connections between ecosystems," said Sullivan.
The students will use this real-time data to follow the path of their adopted buoy for the next 400 days.
