Bayesian experimental designs of drifters for ocean currents modelling.

Drifters are free-floating measuring devices of ocean currents that are being increasingly deployed by oceanographers. Such devices, once placed, will flow according to the currents and collect data accordingly. They are favoured by the practitioners due to their relatively low costs and abilities to capture both the spatial and temporal characteristics of the ocean currents.

The location and time of drifter placement are critical to quality of the collected observations. Such questions are often studied in Statistics under the topic of experimental designs. Experimental design was originally studied in the context of one-off scientific experiments to ensure data was collected efficiently. More recently, the field has developed into sequential experimental design, in which the next set of measurements to make is determined by what has already been observed.

This project investigates how Bayesian experimental designs can guide the sequential placement strategies of drifters in order to obtain better quality data for modelling ocean currents. We will extend the theory of sequential design to consider the structure of drifter observations. The objective of this project is to develop practical drifter placement strategies to be implemented by users of drifters. The developed methods will also have general applicability and could be applied to areas such as ecology and engineering.

Relevant EPSRC research areas: Statistics and applied probability.
Related research areas: Sensors and instrumentation, Non-linear systems, Marine wave and tidal.

In partnership with Fugro.