While Hurricane Francine was moving through the Gulf of Mexico, it passed over East Flower Garden bank and dislodged a Sofar spotter buoy that Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary staff refer to as Bob, due to his minion-like characteristics. The buoy is an essential part of monitoring efforts conducted by the Sanctuary and our new laboratory managed by Xinping Hu as it tracks temperatures at the ocean surface as well as near the reef, but it also tracks sea surface conditions which is crucial to boats visiting the area.
Bob just before installment in June 2023.
We would love to have Bob returned to us. Fortunately his GPS beacon is still active and anyone can track his movements through the Sofar dashboard site: https://spotters.sofarocean.com/?user-filter=4812
Bob's location as of 2:53 p.m. CT on September 11, due south of West Flower Garden Bank.
We are asking anyone who may be heading out into the Gulf in the following days or weeks to check on Bob's last known location, and attempt to recover him if you are in the vicinity. So far, Bob appears to be tracking westward and is currently located south of West Flower Garden Bank. If it travels far enough, the spotter buoy may even wash up on shore. In either case, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you find and retrieve Bob.
Bob floating on the surface at East Flower Garden Bank near some other floats. As you can see, the spotter buoy is not very big and may be hard to see in sloppy seas.
Estimated last seen location on September 11th at 2 pm. Model result from USF (courtesy of Drs. Haibo Xu and Yonggang Liu at University of South Florida)
PLEASE NOTE: There are possibly five other Sofar buoys in the area, which were released to track Hurricane Francine. Bob will be distinguished by small labels on the control panel that carry our main office phone number and the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide in tracking and returning this Sofar spotter buoy to Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
