How rubber ducks reveal ocean secrets

Lots of shells, crabs, and jellyfish, but also things like fishing nets, milk cans, bottles (with or without mail), and shoes wash on the beach. Some of these objects come from afar and float to the surface of the ocean for months, sometimes years. These beach washes are interesting to the beach dwellers among us, but they also keep oceanologists busy.

Where and when objects floating in the ocean reach the ground depends on a number of factors such as current, wind and waves. Even with these factors in mind, the ocean remains unpredictable, according to research by a group of Australian scientists. These scientists used special floating equipment, a type of intelligent rubber duck, to investigate how wind, currents and waves affect an object floating in the ocean.

Predict where the ocean will attract floating objects

To understand how the current moves at sea, buoys with built-in sensors and trackers are usually used. Thanks to these tracking devices, the satellites show where the buoys are. However, these trackers do not operate with great accuracy. At the very least, not to investigate how floating objects move at the surface of the sea and the elements that affect them. Australian Coastal and Regional Oceanography Laboratory So the search for objects floating on the ocean surface approached differently.

The group of researchers used what are called “Carthe GPS Drifters”. These smart, floating “rubber ducks” measure current up to 40 cm below the ocean’s surface. The research team released three of these biodegradable Carthe compounds. However, the aim of the study was not to find out where to cut smart rubber ducks. Most importantly, investigating the effects of currents, winds and waves on the place you will find.

In practice, this information can be used, for example, to predict where and when a large number of Portuguese warships are stranded (not real ships, but very dangerous blue jellyfish). Knowing this information, swimmers, surfers and other beachgoers can be warned in time not to enter the water.

All three “rubber ducks” stranded on the same beach or not?

The three fortune tellers were released in the same spot. However, they are stranded hundreds of miles away. The first two bikes landed on the beach just over a month after they launched. However, both pilots took a completely different route across the ocean and stranded in different places. One of them washed about 180 kilometers to the south and stranded at Wollongong. The other drifted some 250 km south and got stuck in Jervis Bay. The third lost runaway shortly thereafter, north of the launch site.

What the research has shown is that it is extremely difficult to predict where a floating body will be deflected. Even when they deal with the same agents and are left in the same place in the water. A rubber duck, shoe, or bottle can roam the sea for a few months and float hundreds of kilometers before being stranded. Where does it end? This is what defines the ocean.

Did you thirst for more scientific research and interesting facts? Read here why stress is giving you gray hair due to stress, according to a Harvard study.