Initiated in 2017, the ongoing study helps ANGARI and its partners better understand water movement and pollutants in the Lake Worth Lagoon, Palm Beach County waters, and the Indian River Lagoon. ANGARI Foundation and its partners use the study as a tool to engage the community in discussions about human environmental impacts such as plastic pollution and marine debris. Each Lagoon Drift Card Study brings ANGARI closer to identifying debris hot spots, empowering the community to target cleanup efforts where they can make the greatest impact.
If a drift card is found, it is crucial to report the specific location, date, and time found, and a photo of both sides of the card, then email it to lagoondrift@angari.org. Please keep the drift card and do not throw it back into the water.
During prior experiments, drift cards traveled 276 miles north and have been reported north of Jacksonville, and 40 miles south as far as the Hillsboro Inlet.
ANGARI maintains a digital ArcGIS Online Lagoon Drift Interactive Dashboard and Map for the public to access data from all previous drift card experiments from 2017 to 2026. Users can explore and analyze individual data points, learn about each specific drift card report, and examine results from a particular drift card deployment site or experiment. They can also view daily environmental observations from each deployment day and informative charts and graphs. The dashboard can be accessed through ANGARI’s website at angari.org/lagoondrift-data.
This experiment is supported by the Great Charity Challenge. Partners for the 16th Lagoon Drift Card Study experiment include Coastal Connections, Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High School, Emerald Cove Middle School, Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Indian River Lagoon Aquatic Preserves, Flotilla Club, Friends of Manatee Lagoon, Friends of Palm Beach, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Independence Middle School’s SciQuest Academy, Lighthouse Elementary School, Manatee Center, Manatee Lagoon, ORCA, Palm Springs Community Middle School, Pura Vida Divers, School District of Palm Beach County Sustainable Schools, School District of Palm Beach County Sustainability Symposium, Sea Turtle Adventures, Somerset Academy Boca, The Benjamin School, UF IFAS Extension Martin County, UF IFAS Extension St. Lucie County, US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 5-4, VoLo Foundation, and Wellington High School. Staff, members, and students from these organizations and schools have assisted with the creation, decoration, and/or deployment of drift cards, or participated in Lagoon Drift educational programming.
For more information on the Lagoon Drift Card Study, visit angari.org/lagoondrift.
[IMAGE_2_PLACEHOLDER] The Benjamin School students show off their decorated Lagoon Drift cards.
