How It Works
Float Your Boat is a project for community members and students to learn about the Arctic Ocean – its circulation, its sea-ice cover, and how it’s changing.
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Polar Educators request 8-inch-long wooden boats, stamped with a number and web address.
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Polar Educators teach learners about the Arctic Ocean circulation, sea ice, and how it is changing.
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Learners decorate boats and then educators return them to UW Polar Science Center.
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Float Your Boat organizers load wooden boats onto an icebreaker or airplane bound for the Arctic Ocean.
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The crew deploys your boat on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, along with a GPS buoy.
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Everyone can track the drift of their boat by following the location of the buoy.
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Boats will eventually end up in the ocean when the ice drifts out of the Arctic and melts.
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Someone may find your boat on a distant shore and report their find through the web site (typically years from now).
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Float Your Boat organizers will contact you and let you know!
Wooden boats are deployed during an Arctic Ocean expedition on the sea ice next to an Arctic weather buoy that is actively transmitting data to the International Arctic Buoy Programme. The wooden boat is assumed to be in the same position as the buoy as long as the buoy batteries last and the sea ice lasts. Learners can then follow the buoy data as a method to follow their wooden boat in the Arctic Ocean currents. Polar educators can request boats here.
Meet The Scientists
David Forcucci, MS
Former marine science coordinator for the USCGC Healy and underwater photographer
Ignatius Rigor, Ph.D.
Director of International Arctic Buoy Programme, Climatologist and professor at the Polar Science Center, University of Washington
Harry Stern
Mathematician who studies Arctic sea ice at the Polar Science Center, University of Washington
Sarah R. Johnson,
MA.Ed.
Arctic Outreach Educator with International Arctic Buoy Programme, climate change educator at Wild Rose Education
Kjetil Lygre
Ph.D.
Acoustic and Oceanography Researcher at Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway
Hanne Sagen
Ph.D.
Acoustic and Oceanography Researcher at Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway
Wendy Ermold, MS
Physicist, scientific programmer, and field technician at the Polar Science Center, University of Washington
Project Supporters
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Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Dunn Lumber, Washington, USA
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Le Commandant Charcot - Cruise Ship
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Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, Norway
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Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
Project Participants
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Aki Kurose Middle School, Seattle, Washington USA
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Álftamýrarskóli School, Reykjavík, Iceland
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Basalt Regional Library, Basalt, Colorado USA
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Eckstein Middle School, Seattle, Washington USA
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Garfield County Libraries: Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt, Rifle, and Parachute Branches, Colorado USA
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Grunnskóli Primary School, Drangsness, Iceland
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Ipswich High School, Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA
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National Nordic Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Pacific Science Center, Seattle, Washington USA
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Pitkin County Library, Aspen, Colorado USA
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Sandgerdisskóli School, Iceland
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Naval Arctic Research Lab visiting scientists, Utqiagvik, Alaska USA
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West Leyden High School, Northlake, Illinois USA