Assessment of currents derived from drifting fish-aggregating-devices for ocean model currents verification

Assessment of currents derived from drifting fish-aggregating-devices for ocean model currents verification | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Assessment of currents derived from drifting fish-aggregating-devices for ocean model currents verification Saima Aijaz, Gary Brassington, Lauriane Escalle This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5680604/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract There has been a rapid rise in the use of drifting fish-aggregating-devices (FADs) in the fisheries industry with the introduction of satellite-tracked sensors. There are an estimated 100,000 FADs drift in the global ocean with nearly 40,000 in the Western Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). The FADs have been widely used by the fisheries to enhance fish stock. However, there is limited research on deriving ocean currents information from FADs. We demonstrate FADs to be a valuable observation source for global ocean forecast system verification. Our analysis shows high correlation rates between the FADs speeds and the observed currents from the global drifter program (GDP) buoys, and analysis currents from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's (ABoM) global ocean forecast system in the WCPO. The large number of FADs relative to the sparse GDP observations make them particularly useful to complement the GDP observing platform. Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Physical oceanography Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact dFADs drifter buoys Lagrangian ocean-modelling verification Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5680604","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":398114542,"identity":"e9fe8612-7d64-4f2e-a1d2-183fb5cebcc2","order_by":0,"name":"Saima Aijaz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA80lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgYQyQOkGB+TrIXZmGT72KSJUibffrh1ww8GOxnm9uPPqgsqtjHIu/cYMPxsw63F4Exi280ehmQexp6EtNszztxmMDxzxoCxF58WhsS2GzwMzEC/JBy7zdsG1DIjLYGBF48W+f6HbTf/MNTzMAIZxTAtjH/xaGG4kdh2m4fhMA/jjGQ2ZpAWeYnkA8z4bDG48bDttozBcaCWZ8zSQL/wGPAcPnBY5hw+h6U/u/mmotresD/94eeCitty8u2NjQ/flOFxGDQQGAwbIEwegwMMDAcIaYBYB2c0EKV+FIyCUTAKRhAAAFzzUY8XdjX4AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9576-098X","institution":"Bureau of Meteorology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saima","middleName":"","lastName":"Aijaz","suffix":""},{"id":398114543,"identity":"1738ebe6-b45e-4d20-9c23-78ec30d705aa","order_by":1,"name":"Gary Brassington","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4227-3221","institution":"Bureau of Meteorology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gary","middleName":"","lastName":"Brassington","suffix":""},{"id":398114544,"identity":"2d13a418-72a7-496b-98af-f6e5bbc859ab","order_by":2,"name":"Lauriane Escalle","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Pacific Community","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lauriane","middleName":"","lastName":"Escalle","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-20 03:55:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5680604/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5680604/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02415-w","type":"published","date":"2025-07-04T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":86057368,"identity":"0bdb5d20-c7fc-4336-b152-313545752ed5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-05 07:07:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2640317,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"20241224fadsNatureC.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5680604/v1_covered_d83fa10b-303a-4835-82b8-8d112fc6bd22.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Assessment of currents derived from drifting fish-aggregating-devices for ocean model currents verification","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"dFADs, drifter buoys, Lagrangian, ocean-modelling, verification","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5680604/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5680604/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"There has been a rapid rise in the use of drifting fish-aggregating-devices (FADs) in the fisheries industry with the introduction of satellite-tracked sensors. 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