The Adopt a Drifter Program has released a new NOAA SciJinks web game designed for K-12 audiences: Ocean Odyssey: Tracking Marine Debris. (Image credit: NOAA)
The Adopt a Drifter Program has released a new NOAA SciJinks web game designed for K-12 audiences: Ocean Odyssey: Tracking Marine Debris. The game was designed and developed by the program’s first summer undergraduate intern, Stephen Lewis. Ocean Odyssey is inspired by the Global Drifter Program’s contributions to Lagrangian observations, which are collected by drifters (or drifting buoys) as they float and move with the currents of the ocean. As these drifters “go with the flow” of the ocean, they transmit their location while collecting data on temperature and pressure. The game incorporates these data to help middle school audiences understand how ocean surface currents transport marine debris and how users can help keep our oceans clean.