Miniaturized Drifting Buoy for Sea Surface Monitoring and Remote Sensing Calibration and Validation Tasks

Oceanographic drifting buoys play an essential role in collecting valuable data on sea surface processes, contributing to satellite mission calibration/validation. This paper presents the Miniaturized Electronics Lagrangian Oceanographic Drifter (MELODI) – a versatile, cost-effective drifting buoy. The project provides an electronic platform, algorithms, and framework for task-specific buoys. It showcases the hardware, communication/storage, sensors, and biodegradable customizable hulls. Extensive in-situ validations demonstrate reliability/accuracy under various conditions. The modular design enables adapting the buoy by varying sensors, data processing, and communication modes. The compact size and low weight minimize environmental impact for scalable deployments. Miniaturization also enables advanced ocean-atmosphere interaction measurements and flexible multimodal observation networks. Through extensive in-situ validation campaigns, we demonstrate the reliability and accuracy of our oceanographic drifting buoy in various conditions and settings. This solution enhances ocean research/applications by providing a more reliable, accurate, and versatile tool for diverse maritime/scientific uses.