Debris Tracker
These buoys are still "live," and are continuing to transmit data. Their trajectory can be seen, as of the start period of December, 2011, so that current flows can be better understood in this part of the ocean.
Deploying the tracking buoys has been a major accomplishment of the whole expedition. The buoys were placed in a determined location in an attempt to track the leading South East edge of the tsunami debris field.
Based on the trajectory of the 11 buoys set in December, 2011, it is seen that the most ( 9) generally moved north and eastward. The interesting point is that the last two deployed buoys #5 sphere 42420 and DBI SVP 107569 do not follow the rest of the drifters released earlier. This in essence tells where are the locations of currents potentially affecting the Kure and Midway Atolls.
This information may be of great importance for the Northwestern Hawaiian Monument people. Actually the #5 buoy got very close to one of the other atolls. So far no tsunami debris is reported on Kure or Midway which is consistent with the trajectories of the drifters. Also it "validates" our model projections, as no model tsunami tracers have reached Midway yet. Our model shows the minimal distance of tracers from the Midway Atoll was about 40-50 NM in mid-February (16FEB2012), after then the distance has increased as they moved away from the islands in the currents.
Debris Tracker with Vector
(Note: Midway Islands can be seen in the lower right corner of the map, for reference)