Conceptual design of an aircraft-deployable miniature remote control air-sea interaction drifter (RC/ASID) buoy

For the past few years, meteorologists and oceanographers have expressed a critical need for an inexpensive, easily deployable, expendable drifting buoy capable of measuring meteorological and oceanographic parameters. This paper presents a design concept for a Remote Control Air-Sea Interaction Drifter (RC/ASID), based on the redesign and repackaging of the current standard spar-type meteorological drifting buoy, so that its prelaunch configuration is that of a standard "A" size sonobuoy. The RC/ASID operates with the NOAA/TIROS satellite system. In addition to reporting its position, the RC/ASID measures air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, sea surface temperature, and sea subsurface temperature to a depth of 200 feet. The RC/ASID may also be remotely turned on or off via an RF link. The buoy may be manually launched from ships or from standard U.S. Navy sonobuoy launchers of the type found on P-3 aircraft.