Davulienė, L., Kelpšaitė, L., Dailidienė, I.
Surface drifters experiment in the south-eastern part of the
Baltic Sea
In November 2013, the first short-term surface drifter
experiment has been carried out along the Lithuanian coast. Three drifters were
deployed from R/V Vėjūnas at a location ~6 km offshore and 2.5 km north of
Klaipėda. During the period of observation from 22-30 November, the drifting
direction has shifted up to five times by more than 90 degrees mainly due to
changes in the mean wind direction. After seven days, the drifters have reached
the coast approximately 30 km south of Klaipėda. The analysis of the
relationships between the mean wind speed and the mean drift speed for the
three periods differentiated based on meteorological conditions yielded a
regression coefficient of 0.031, with the entire experiment period
characterized by a lower value of 0.014.