ITP47 Overview

Deployment Location: 4/11/2011, 18:00 UTC at 87° 59.3’N, 178° 30.5’W

Last Location: 10/4/2012, 23:00 UTC at 67° 37.9’ N, 29° 3.6’ W

Duration: 542 days

Distance Traveled: 5573 km

Number of profiles: 1289 in 322 days

Other instruments: IMBB 2011-C, AOFB 23, PAWS, webcam

ITP 47 was deployed on a 3.5 m thick icefloe in the Transpolar Drift from the Russian ice camp Barneo in collaboration with the North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPEO) . On the same icefloe, a Naval Postgraduate School Arctic Ocean Flux Buoy (AOFB 23), an US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Ice Mass Balance Buoy (IMB 2011-C), an US-IABP Polar Area Weather Station (PAWS) and NOAA/PMEL webcam were deployed. The ITP operated on a fast sampling schedule of 4 one-way profiles between 7 and 760 m depth each day.

In September 2013, the surface package of the ITP was discovered washed ashore in Blacksod Bay in western Ireland by filmmaker Fergus Sweeney who retrieved the buoy and showcased it on an educational exhibit called "Drifted, ITP 47" at Aras Inis Gluaire in Belmullet, Ireland in February 2014.

Video shown at the exhibit is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shdnxuEeg9c.

Video of the exhibit is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGSeLq2sU2g.

More information on this buoy’s journey to Ireland is available at: https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/a-buoys-long-strange-trip and http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/arctic-buoy-travels-15-000-miles-to-mayo-phoning-home-1.1671223.

ITP 47 rests on the 3.5 m thick ice flanked by AOFB on left and barely visible IMB on the right.

Shortly after deployment 175 miles upstream of Russian ice camp Barneo, ITP 47 rests on the 3.5 m thick ice flanked by AOFB on left and barely visible IMB on the right. (Rick Krishfield)

No tether, only surface package remained from ITP 47 when it was found onshore at Blacksod Bay in western Ireland nearly 2.5 years after installation. (Fergus Sweeney)

On display at the “Drifted, ITP 47” exhibit at Aras Inis Gluaire in Belmullet, Ireland in February 2014. (Fergus Sweeney)