SWAMPSCOTT – The message in a bottle goes high-tech as Swampscott High School geometry students prepare to launch a satellite-tracked “drifter” offshore this week.Under the guidance of Jim Manning, a scientist with the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, 11 sophomores from teacher Chris Ratley?s class will be complementing their work in shapes and angles with lessons in longitude and latitude to model ocean currents with the data that the drifter?s GPS device will transmit. The information will then be tracked on a website.Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Coordinator Brandy Wilbur devised the project with Ratley after seeing Manning speak about the drifters and their use in schools at a conference in October. They met Manning at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth to build it.?Manning mentioned schools were doing this, but there?s very little current information out there,” said Ratley. “I don?t think the students realize they have a part in a scientific experiment with Woods Hole.”The four-foot-tall drifter will float in the ocean with the GPS buoyed above the water to transmit data while its submerged canvas “sails” will catch the currents, allowing it to drift along to anywhere the ocean takes it, said Wilbur.Local fishermen and SHS alumni Justin Mahoney and Paul Gorcelon are scheduled to take the drifter out to sea from Lynn Harbor this week, depending on the weather. “It will be interesting to see if it stays out there or comes in,” said Wilbur. The class predicted that the drifter will stay fairly close to shore to track currents in the local shoreline.From the milk carton keeping the GPS out of the water to the dowels that hold the sails, the drifter is environment-friendly in case of a project-ending boat collision. Even the GPS is donated from a refrigerator truck company to keep costs and the carbon footprint light. Wilbur said the battery will last about six to eight months.The students spent their last class with the drifter last Friday as they painted the sails, personalizing them with their names and Swampscott?s Big Blue insignia. The students will be constructing their own drifters for individual experiments in May.?It looks like something from outer space,” sophomore Ryan January said with a laugh. “I don?t think it?s going to survive. The ocean is too powerful.”?I think it?s going to work. I have faith,” said classmate Steve Dandreo.The drifter will send data to a website that anyone can watch at http://www.neracoos.org/drifters/Swampscott.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].