In the future, dive-capable autonomous drifters are intended to enable the targeted study of small-scale structures in shelf seas such as the German Bight. Traditional measurement campaigns using research vessels or boats can only capture these areas—such as flow fronts, stratifications, or locally confined changes in the upper water layer—to a limited extent, since direct approach often alters or stirs the natural conditions.
The concept envisions the drifters performing automated dive cycles while taking into account currents, tides, and other environmental conditions. This allows them to navigate deliberately to specific areas and conduct measurements there.
To capture such structures, it is planned to continuously measure physical parameters such as temperature, conductivity, and pressure. From these data, water density can be calculated according to TEOS-10. Vertical or horizontal jumps in density serve as indicators of interfaces between water masses. In combination with appropriate sensors and autonomous control, the drifters are thus expected to observe small-scale dynamic processes that are crucial for the exchange of heat, salt, nutrients, and biological activity.
