University of Miami Selects SPOT for Oceanic Flow Study in the Gulf of Mexico

Globalstar, Inc. announces that the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (UM) will deploy SPOT Trace satellite trackers in its continued research expedition with the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). The project studies ocean flow as it relates to the dispersion of pollutants and the effects of hurricanes on the dissemination of environmental hazards over time. This is an extension of an ongoing project that launched in 2012 after the BP oil spill to monitor how pollutants behave in normal and emergency conditions, collecting over six million data points.

SPOT devices are cost-effective, rugged, pocket-sized devices that use satellite messaging technology to allow users to communicate from remote locations around the globe. The SPOT product family uses the GPS satellite network to determine a customer or asset’s location and transmit messages and GPS coordinates to others, independent of cellular phone coverage or radio frequency range. As a result, SPOT devices fulfill a variety of purposes including emergency services, recreational/asset tracking and scientific studies.

For the first time, CARTHE’s field work at sea, combined with laboratory experiments and development of interconnected modeling systems, will produce a comprehensive modeling hierarchy that provides a four dimensional description of oil/dispersant fate and transport in the Gulf of Mexico and coastal environments across all relevant time and space scales. CARTHE was also able to provide useful data and coastal models to emergency responders after the 2013 explosion of the Hercules 265 drilling rig and the Santa Barbara oil spill earlier this year.

“SPOT is at the very heart of our upcoming expedition in the northern Gulf of Mexico, just like in our 2012 study. Almost every aspect of the experiment is tailored around these devices. Such massive simultaneous information has never been obtained before, and we expect that SPOT will provide unprecedented scientific information about ocean currents so we know what to anticipate in the event of future oil spills,” said Tamay Özgökmen, professor of ocean sciences and CARTHE director.

"The CARTHE group, based at the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, continues to produce cutting-edge science and pushes the boundaries of physical oceanography. This will be the largest oceanographic experiment of its kind and to be successful, the quality of the equipment must be exceptional,” said Roni Avissar, professor and dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “Our scientists have spent years perfecting the drifters and planning the execution of their release, and now we need the SPOT GPS units to do the work.”

“We are thrilled to continue to be a part of such an innovative research project that has such an enormous impact on the communities in which we and many of our customers are a part of,” said Jake Rembert, Vice President at Globalstar. “The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School and CARTHE are making groundbreaking discoveries with our SPOT devices and we look forward to finding more ways to leverage our satellite technology in this arena.”

For more information on SPOT Trace and other SPOT devices, please visit FindMeSPOT.com.