Oceanography Students Using GPS Tracking to Learn Where River Water Ends Up

Using a GPS tracking device to track a floating buoy, a Jacksonville University class of students gets to travel the Atlantic Ocean.

The oceanography class members are using this little device to learn where water goes once it leaves the St. Johns River, which is where the Jackson University Marine Science Research building sits.

Jeremy Stalker, Marine Science Professor, works here and teaches physical oceanography.

“They learn how water moves and why water moves in the oceans on a very large scale,” Stalker said about the oceanography students and project. “So we’re talking big currents.”

Stalker said that he wants his students to know where the water goes out of the St. Johns River so he had his students make buoys and attached the tracking devices to them. They then would release the buoys in the river.

According to Stalker, the buoys are mostly made out of wood dowels, string, canvas, PVC, spray foam, and basically anything you would locate at your favorite home improvement store.

Following months of tweaking, the class launched their project into the water in February near the location the river spills into the Atlantic. Within 24 hours, two of them sank and the remains of one were found in Ormond Beach. Another was spotted in Jacksonville.

Nearly five months later, one survived and was still floating. Attached to the top of the buoy was a volleyball which prompted the class to name it Wilson.

Wilson was first spotted heading south towards Cape Canaveral, Stalker says, however it then got caught up in the Gulf Stream and began heading North where it is now bobbing up and down in Vermont.

Some previously unknown questions are being answered through the tracking of this buoy, claims Stalker. Once the water of the St. Johns River mixes with the Atlantic, there is no idea where it goes, Stalker claims.

Another phenomenon Stalker is studying are eddies, which are similar to whirlpools of warm and cold water. Wilson, once launched, got sucked into one of these briefly. Stalker wishes to know more about these since they randomly form and tend to harbor a great deal of animal life.

Today, Wilson is still out to sea. Pulling out his tracking map located on his computer, Stalker sees a green dot each time the GPS tracker provides a transmission record. The GPS tracking device on Wilson has an 8 month lifespan. Once the green marker turns red, it’s over for Wilson.

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