The visualizations to the right show ITP movement over time, otherwise known as the profiler’s drift track. Each map contains the full tracks of three ITP machines that were active during similar periods of time - early, middle, and late deployments correlate to the years 2005-2009, 2010-2013, and 2014-2017 respectively.
Notice the shape of ITP Machine 8 - it’s circular motion seems to match the shape of the Gyre. This could suggest that the ice floe was confined within the Gyre’s circular current.
Questions for thought:
What patterns do you observe in the other tracks? What could be causing the observed variations in shape and length? What are some potential reasons for discontinuity? What concluding thoughts or questions do you have about what may drive drift track movement?
Recreate this visualization and for a different ITP machine. Navigate to Data Notebooks under the Resources tab, and open ITP Movement Visualizations.
Each data for a geographic coordinate pair from every ITP machine is plotted on a grid with axes that represent the approximate geographic coordinates of the Arctic circle - longitude along the x-axis and latitude along the y-axis.* This graph shows the collective location density of ITPs in the Arctic Ocean as they moved. For reference, the Beaufort Gyre exists within the approximate range of 70°N to 85°N latitude and 120°E and 160°E longitude. The color bar is a density gradient corresponding to the number of data points.
Questions for thought:
What overall range do you observe? Where do you observe the highest density, and why? What is responsible for the vast spaces of no data?
Recreate this visualization and get creative with the colormap possibilities. Navigate to Data Notebooks under the Resources tab, and open ITP Movement Visualizations.
*The grid is uniform; latitude and longitude are not properly projected and the appearance is therefore skewed.