Scientists can’t rely on floating objects accidentally spilling out of ships, so several research efforts have deployed various types of scientific floating objects or buoys in the ocean.
For example, the Global Drifter Program (GDP), launched in 1998, deploys drifting buoys to track currents, capturing sea surface temperature and recording further meteorological data.
As of May 2007, 1,247 surface drifting buoys had been deployed (see details on the GDP Web site at www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/ dac/gdp.html.)