SHP STEM, USCG & NOAA Partner to Deploy Solar Powered Drifters

The SHP STEM students followed a business model in which students owned one of three different roles – Project Manager, Technology Team, or Design Team. For two months, the students researched, designed, and built four seaworthy ocean drifters and NOAA began their deployment on April 17, 2022. Three of the drifters were launched from NOAA vessels based in Massachusetts, and one from Alaska.

While the one in the Pacific Ocean, named “SHP HZF,” has since been “beached” in an uninhabited area of Vancouver and decommissioned, the three drifters in the Atlantic Ocean are still functioning a year after their deployment. Clearly, the design that the Seton Hall Prep students developed was professional! The data has been used by our Environmental Science classes, but just as importantly, our Seton Hall Prep ocean drifter data was used by NOAA for its own research of the Gulf Stream and sea-surface temperatures. You can see the .gif of that animation here. 

Because we wanted to have data from the Pacific Ocean, we needed another deployment from the West Coast. Our Computer Science & Technology Department Chair, Mr. Jonathan Lace, is an Auxiliary member of the USCG and reached out to several officers to request the Coast Guard's assistance. Through several meetings involving Mr. Lace, Mr. Snyder, and officials from the USCG, the entire group worked to balance the STEM class’s deployment requirements with the Coast Guard’s logistical requirements – and one year after the original launching of our devices, the USCG deployed our Pacific Drifter named, “Hazard Zet Forward.”

We are currently monitoring both the Atlantic and Pacific sea-surface currents and Seton Hall Prep cannot be prouder of our young men who embraced this massive project. We cannot be more grateful to NOAA and the USCG for their yeomanlike efforts to make this STEM project a reality. Additionally, the STEM program at Seton Hall Prep is supported by the Charles Edison Fund and projects like this could not take place without its generosity.

If you would like to track the Seton Hall Prep ocean drifters in real time, please click this link.